Dirty Money is also fast coming to the forefront in the war against drugs and rampant corruption that President Duterte had promised to the Filipino people during his Presidential campaign.
PIC courtesy AMLC Website
This translates into a widening of the action on the poll promises and general cleansing of the corrupt way that many members of the Filipino public have become accustomed to.
In the pursuit of forcing the corrupt to fall in line and observe the rules of an orderly civic life, the dragnet is being spread to nab economic offenders who are crippling this nation with their nefarious activities.
In the recent past a major bank and two politicians have come up for accusations and questioning by the authorities. Billions of Pesos are that are known to have been earned from dubious criminal activity and laundered through various channels.
1. The high profile case involving Senator Leila de Lima is a case in point and amply demonstrates the lows to which even the achievers and the haves of Filipino society have sunk. It is an ample demonstrator of the general psyche of the successful who want more.
Sen. Leila de Lima is facing a case in the house with many witnesses coming up for and against her in a battle that she is apparently losing till now.
De Lima had adopted a different strategy to evade the prying eyes of the onlookers and the authorities. It is alleged that she was utilizing the bank accounts of her staff to receive the ill gotten money.
It is alleged that the dummy bank accounts that were utilized to receive the dirty money belonged to:
• Her driver and close confidante Ronnie Dayan, who was not only receiving the drug money, but was instrumental in having a finger in every pie that de Lima was concerned with. During the house investigation that is now going on at an advanced stage, it has been revealed that the driver Ronnie Dayan was also influential enough to secure employment in the Department of Justice for his relatives, friends and other chosen people,
• Her former staff members,
• Her driver’s relatives.
2. Even the current President himself, who is spearheading the government and the fight against corruption, crime and drugs, was accused of maintaining a secret stash of illegal money in secret bank accounts.
He was also accused of conducting transactions worth $ 2.5 billion from such accounts.
The allegations against Rodrigo Duterte prior to his assuming the post of the President of the Philippines were that he was utilizing the bank accounts that had been created in the names of his various family members including his children.
3. As far as corporate entities go, the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) was last year accused of indulging in money laundering on a very large scale. The RCBC was accused of being instrumental in facilitating the transfer the stolen funds.
Some hackers had stolen P 3.9 billion ($81 million) from the US Federal Reserve Bank at New York from the account of Bangladesh. The RCBC helped in the transferring operation.
The action
RCBC
The accusations against RCBC were mainly that they permitted fake bank accounts to be created in fictitious names and the dirty money was allowed to be laundered through these accounts.
The allegations against the RCBC were established without any iota of doubt P 1 billion was paid by the bank owning up to its fault. Meanwhile the investigations were being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation from the US.
The task of collecting incriminating data and required evidence to prove the guilt of the officers who were instrumental in facilitating money laundering, are at an advanced stage.
Some of the culprits will be tried in the US courts on the basis of witnesses who are now being questioned.
President Duterte
Sen. Antonio Trillanes did charge the present President Rodrigo Duterte for financial irregularities before the elections to the post of President that he was contesting.
But due to his emerging the victor and assuming office, the automatic armor of immunity prevented any further criminal proceedings against him. Now, it seems that, when his term as President expires in six years’ time, he may be prosecuted by the Ombudsman.
There is a provision under the law for the Ombudsman to present any evidence against the President to the House of Representatives. On receipt of any such evidence, the House of Representatives can choose to initiate impeachment proceedings against him
Senator Leila de Lima
In the ongoing case of Sen. de Lima case, it was recently declared by Vitaliano Aguirre, the Justice Secretary that there was a proposal to file criminal proceedings against her in an appropriate court of law to ensure that justice prevails. All the evidence that has been collected to prove the allegations against her will be used when she is prosecuted.
Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC)
The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) was in the forefront of all the three cases cited above.
The main purpose of creating the AMLC was the prevention of black money, to ensure that dirty money was not converted by processes that were exploiting the lacunas in the rules to create illegal wealth in the country.
The authorities set up AMLC in the year 2001.
Dirty money or black money is generated from illegal activities and earnings of criminal activities like:
• Drug trafficking,
• Kidnappings,
• Extortion,
• Jueteng or Pyramiding,
• Corruption or bribes. And
• Thefts, cheating etc.
The AMLC has devised procedures to keep a track of all the financial movements that lead to the generation of black money. For this purpose they have kept a ceiling limit of transactions beyond a deposit or investment that is made per day will have to be reported. This ceiling limit of all transactions applies to all without exception.
The reporting of these transactions is mandatory under the law of the land as covered transactions.
There is also a provision under the banking laws that it is obligatory for the financial institution involved to send a report promptly to the AMLC in case the transaction seems suspicious in any way. Bankers have a way of detecting any transactions that are not consistent with the daily banking practices of a customer.
This allows the AMLC to cause investigations to be made to check up the validity of the customer whose bank account is involved.
There seems to bwe a failure of the system or willful violation in the transactions that were made with respect to both President Duterte and Senator de Lima.
This reporting network includes most of the financial institutions including banks who deal with cash and other financial transactions and whose duty is to make a report of all covered transactions and suspicious ones.
It is a criminal offence to skip these reports for any transaction.
The enterprises that have to report all such transactions are:
• Investment companies,
• Stock brokers,
• Jewelry dealers,
• Banks, and
• Insurance companies.
The AMLC is duty-bound to keep a close watch and any transactions not found in order can be seized, forfeited, or frozen through an order of the court of Appeals. Appropriate criminal proceeding can also be initiated.
The money laundering act envisages severe punishments to the offenders and the defaulters can be punished with imprisonment extending to 14 years apart from other penalties as laid down under the act.
Deliberate constraints?
The powers under the Anti-money laundering Act are very wide ranging but their implementation and enforcement is yet another matter. Manpower is limited and that is a very big constraint.
The powers of the AMLC are given to the heads of:
1. The Insurance Commission,
2. The Securities and Exchange Commission, and
3. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas,
The above three Managers are full-time Executives and can hardly spare any time to their additional duties which have more or less an irritating nuisance value; surely, they cannot be expected to do justice to these additional responsibilities.
In addition to this, the AMLC is staffed by employees of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas; add to that the perennial under-funding of the AMLC and you have a veritable recipe that points to a deliberate attempt to create a tiger without claws or teeth.
This nefarious design seems to suggest an outrageous attitude so that the high and the mighty can get away with financial plunder with disdain.
Even the Duterte government has turned a blind eye to these inadequacies in such a vital monitoring mechanism whose inadequacies can have a crippling effect on the economy of the country.
If this government is as serious on the financial front as it is in dealing with drugs and criminals, they should put their heads together an AMLC that is far more threatening than the Ombudsman has to be put together.
But, they will then have to be bent upon benefiting the nation.
Umrao singh umraoz.wordpress.com
Thursday, 06 October 2016
Written for: Lars-Magnus Carlsson www.thephilippinepride.com?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss
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