BSP asked to check Uruguay bank’s existence

Bulacan Rep. Willie Buyson Villarama asked Gov. Rafael Buenaventura of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) yesterday to verify the existence of Trade and Commerce Bank in Uruguay.

He told the BSP head that the Uruguay bank is "central" to the controversy Manila Rep. Mark Jimenez’s accusation that Justice Secretary-on leave Hernando Perez extorted $2 million from him.

Perez has denied the accusation. Agnes Devanadera, one of his lawyers, has claimed that there is no Trade and Commerce Bank in Uruguay.

Villarama, the whistleblower in the alleged extortion case, said he was convinced that Jimenez was telling the truth when he claimed that he wired the $2 million for Perez from the Uruguay bank to account HO 13706 in Coutts Bank in Hong Kong.

He said he himself has a photocopy of a "deposit detail report" of Trade and Commerce Bank indicating that the huge transfer was routed through Trade and Commerce Bank in the Cayman Islands and Chase Manhattan Bank in New York before ending up in Coutts Bank.

He said Devanadera’s claim "does not in any way diminish the fact that account 13706 exists, or at least existed, and that it received a transfer of exactly $1,999,965 on Feb. 23, 2001 from Rep. Jimenez."

He pointed out that even his distant relative, banker Ernest Escaler, admitted such fact when he asked for a written authority from Jimenez to reveal the details of the "transaction."

Hours after making the request, Escaler, Perez’s supposed front man, board a Philippine Airlines plane for the United States. Nothing has been heard from him since. – Jess Diaz