Suit eyed on AMLC report leakage

Lawyers of Vice President Jejomar Binay are reported to be mulling over the possible of filing cases against media outfits that published or aired the report of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) on his alleged multibillion-peso accounts, which was the basis of a Court of Appeals freeze order on his assets. The Binay camp had described the AMLC report “erroneous” and “one-sided” and part of a grand design to derail his bid in 2016 presidential elections. Periodic polls by different survey firms have consistently placed him as the man to beat next year.

One of the authors of the Anti-Money Laundering Act (Amla), former Makati Rep. Teodoro “Teddyboy” Locsin Jr., had said making public the AMLC investigation on the 242 bank accounts of Binay and his associates violated the Amla and may hold liable bank officials and media outfits behind the disclosures.

Locsin also said the leaked AMLC report on Binay was illegal and not admissible in a court of law.

But Senate President Frank Drilon held that media did not violate the law, since Amla holds that those who publish the AMLC report become liable only  “in case of breach of confidentiality.”

He said that, since the AMLC report was published along with the Court of Appeals freeze order, there was no breach of confidentiality, because the AMLC report became part of the CA order.

Binay, however, held that the AMLC report acted on unsubstantiated allegations.

“You have fiction writers and fortunetellers not only in the Senate. You can find them in the AMLC,” said Binay, who is also a lawyer.

“The law prohibits the release of the AMLC report. For one, it is one-sided. The report does not include our response to the findings. And I tell you, the AMLC is wrong,” Binay said.

The Vice President insisted he does not own 242 accounts as had been reported in the media.

“I do not have 242 accounts. Only five accounts included in the freeze order are under my name. And all the funds in these five accounts were acquired legally. They are not hidden wealth. AMLC is really wrong,” the Vice President said.

Binay also refuted the AMLC report saying his source of income was only limited to his salaries as a government official and that the income does not jive with the balance stated in his bank accounts.

“My accounts include income and savings before I joined the government. We also have businesses that are already decades old. We pay taxes. Even legal campaign contributions, which have been reported to the Comelec, were described as ill-gotten by AMLC. AMLC is again wrong,” Binay said.

“AMLC even included the bank accounts that have already been closed. AMLC is definitely wrong,” he added.

With regards to the 237 other accounts and transactions, Binay said they were owned by other persons that the AMLC insists are his.

“They make it appear that the 237 accounts and transactions of other individuals are mine. This is simply not true and is just made up. Again, AMLC is wrong,” he said, the fifth time he mentioned that in his statement to The Market Monitor.

“The release of the AMLC report is truly a part of the conspiracy to destroy me because of the 2016 elections,” Binay said.

“The Senate contempt charge, plus the leaked report by the AMLC, is nothing but political harassment designed to bring the Vice President down to his knees,” lawyer Rico Paolo Quicho, Binay’s spokesman, added.