SPD asks AMLC aid on rob gang

MANILA, Philippines - The Southern Police District (SPD) will ask the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to check and freeze the bank accounts of a common-law wife of Ozamis rob gang leader Ricky Cadavero.

“We want the AMLC to investigate how much money they (couple) really have. Imagine, they do not even have jobs but they can afford to live like royalty,” said Chief Inspector Danilo Mendoza, head of the SPD’s special operation unit.

Cadavero was convicted of two counts each of frustrated murder and robbery. He now faces charges of masterminding about 19 robberies in Metro Manila and neighboring provinces, including the Sept. 14 Alabang Town Center (ATC) heist.

Investigators want AMLC to focus on Cadavero’s partner, Fe Tolentino, because the couple’s bank accounts and properties are all under her name.

“About 95 percent of Cadavero’s share from the heists goes to Tolentino,” Mendoza said.

According to Mendoza, Tolentino has several real estate properties in the province. She also has a pump boat, three sport utility vehicles (Mitsubishi Montero, Honda CRV, and Toyota Innova) and three bank accounts under her name.

In one of her bank accounts, policemen discovered that she deposited about P1 million last March.

An P800,000 cash deposit was again made to the same account two days after the ATC heist on Sept. 16, a Sunday, police said.