Court of Appeals freezes accounts of Brit's wife in £750-million scam

MANILA, Philippines - The Court of Appeals (CA) has frozen the bank accounts of the Filipino wife of a British national who is facing charges involving a 750-million-pound (around P50 billion) fraud scam in the United Kingdom.

In a resolution released last Monday, the fourth division of the appellate court ordered Philippine Savings Bank and Standard Chartered Bank to immediately freeze the accounts under the name of Ruth Ramos Ochavez for 20 days.

Associate Justices Juan Enriquez Jr. and Manuel Barrios concurred with the ruling penned by Associate Justice Apolinario Bruselas Jr.

The CA issued the freeze order to avoid the possibility of funds being withdrawn, removed, transferred, concealed, and placed beyond the reach of Philippine law enforcers.

The order was sought in an ex-parte petition filed by the Philippines’ anti-money laundering agency.

On Aug. 11, 2011, the Department of Justice coordinated with the Anti-Money Laundering Council after it received a request of assistance from the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) of the government of the UK, coursed through the UK Judicial Cooperation Unit.

The request was made on the basis of the good international relations between the Philippines and the UK, and their common interest against criminality.

The British government had conducted an investigation on Achilleas Kallakis, a.k.a. Stefanos Kollakis, Alexander Lewis, a.k.a. Martin Lewis and Michael Karl Helmut and Mauritius Becker for violations of British criminal laws, “by conspiring amongst themselves to submit false and/or forged documents and/or statements to defraud Allied Irish Bank (AIB), an Irish company with branch registration in England and a UK subsidiary, AIB Group (UK) PLC, of money in the amount of around 700 million pounds, as well as alleged violations of British anti-money laundering laws.”

Records show that the crimes were allegedly committed between 2003 and 2007.

The SFO believes that Williams, alias Martin Lewis, violated UK money laundering laws by transferring illegally obtained funds of AIB to a network of accounts overseas and concealed the proceeds he obtained from the fraud by passing them to his wife, Ochavez, through her bank accounts in the Philippines.

The SFO added that Ochavez received cash deposits in a UK bank account during the period of the fraud even if she had not declared any income from employment in the UK since April 2005.

The SFO identified the subject bank accounts in the Philippines, both in the name of Ochavez, where proceeds of the alleged unlawful activities were transferred.