AMLC wants return of power to freeze assets

MANILA, Philippines -  The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) is eager to get back its power to freeze the assets of persons suspected of engaging in illegal diversion of funds. 

During the Senate hearing on the proposed amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001, AMLC executive director Vicente Aquino was asked about the problems they faced in the cases of former military comptrollers Carlos Garcia and Jacinto Ligot, who allegedly diverted huge amounts from government accounts. 

Ligot supposedly took out a total of P700 million from peso and dollar accounts while Garcia supposedly withdrew P120 million from several banks just before his assets were frozen by the AMLC.

Ligot’s brother-in-law Edgardo Yambao also allegedly accumulated P250 million within five years even if he was unemployed.

Aquino noted that the original law creating the council gave it the power to freeze the accounts of an individual after determining probable cause that these were used in an illegal activity. 

This power was removed when the law was amended with the passage of Republic Act 9194 in 2003. With the amendment, the order to freeze would now have to come from the Court of Appeals.

“The current law is utterly inadequate to address that because if we are to go through the process based on AMLA, before the AMLC can get a freeze order from the CA, it has to go to its statutory counsel from the Office of the Solicitor General before a petition to freeze is filed with the CA. By time of filing, many eyes have seen the petition,” Aquino said.

“Based on our experience, it’s a lot better if the AMLC’s authority to freeze is restored and the bank inquiry ex parte,” he added.

Yesterday’s hearing was conducted in response to Senate Bill 2484 filed by Sen. Sergio Osmeña III proposing amendments to the AMLA.

The bill aims to expand the scope and definition of money laundering to include the transaction of criminal proceeds, possession, use, transfer, acquisition, concealment, conversion and disguise of the proceeds of the crime.

Sen. Franklin Drilon noted that a lot of problems came out during the probe into AFP corruption, including the failure of the banks to report the huge deposits made by Yambao despite having no source of income.

“Gen. Garcia, Ligot, Edgardo Yambao had no visible means of income. The children of Gen. Ligot did not have the corresponding employment to justify (their deposits). The cardinal rule in banking is KYC or Know Your Customer. They should have known that these people should not have such huge accounts,” Drilon said.

He said that the banks have an obligation to report the suspicious accounts to the AMLC.

Osmeña directed the committee to summon the senior executives of the banks involved in the Garcia, Ligot and Yambao accounts to the next hearing in order to explain why the deposits were not reported.

Garcia was charged with plunder after he was found to have allegedly accumulated over P300 million during his stint as comptroller of the AFP.

He allegedly entered into a plea bargaining agreement in which he pleaded guilty to direct bribery and money laundering, both carrying a lower penalty than plunder.

As part of the deal, Garcia would return only 50 percent of the P300 million he allegedly stole.