CA reverses forfeiture order vs ex-NBI official

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MANILA, Philippines — The Court of Appeals (CA) has reversed and set aside a Muntinlupa court’s ruling ordering the forfeiture of funds found in several bank accounts owned by a former National Bureau of Investigation official and his brother, a Bureau of Immigration (BI) agent, who were earlier cleared of demanding money from those implicated in the so-called “pastillas” bribery scam in 2017.

In a decision dated April 15, the appellate court’s Eighth Division overturned the 2023 ruling of the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court and dismissed the petition for civil forfeiture against ex-NBI legal assistance division chief Joshua Capiral, BI officer Christopher Capiral, and two of their co-depositors.

According to the appellate court, the required “quantum of proof” needed to establish that the Capiral brothers knew that their money or bank accounts were involved or related to the proceeds of the pastillas scheme or that they engaged in any act that constituted money laundering was not met.

READ: CA upholds dismissal of 3 BI officers in ‘pastillas’ scam

“Verily, while this court is one with the state’s efforts to prosecute corrupt public officials, we are reminded that the government’s anticorruption drive cannot be done at the expense of cherished fundamental rights enshrined in our constitution,” the CA said in the decision penned by Associate Justice Eleuterio Bathan.

Not enough proof

Even assuming that the amounts involved in the accounts (allegedly transactions that reached up to P14 million) were not proportionate to the brothers’ financial standing or earning capacity, the appellate court said there was no evidence that the funds represented, involved, or were related to any unlawful activity or money laundering offense under Republic Act No. 9160, as amended, in relation to the pastillas scheme.

“It was not demonstrated that the funds originated from, or were materially linked to, monetary instruments, properties, or proceeds used in the commission of any such unlawful activity or money laundering offense under the said law,” it added.

Joshua Capiral was indirectly implicated in the so-called pastillas scam, a scheme allegedly centralized by BI high-ranking officials in 2017, in which Chinese nationals were allowed seamless entry into the country for a service fee of P10,000.

To avoid detection, the bribe money given to immigration agents was hidden inside rolled-up sheets of paper, which resembled pastillas, a local soft candy wrapped up in wafer-thin paper.

Entrapped

Immigration officer Jeffrey Ignacio, who had exposed the pastillas scam at the BI, had accused Joshua Capiral, then head of the NBI legal assistance division, of approaching some of the immigration officials charged before the Office of the Ombudsman, offering to “fix” the cases against them for a fee.

Capiral and his brother Christopher were then arrested in an entrapment operation conducted by the NBI on Sept. 21, 2020.

As a result, the pair was charged by the Department of Justice with robbery (extortion) and violation of section 3(e) of Republic Act No. 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

But the charges against them were dismissed by a Manila court.

This prompted the NBI to request the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to conduct a money laundering investigation against the Capirals, citing their alleged violations related to the pastillas scheme.

Based on the criminal information, the AMLC secretariat conducted a financial investigation and found probable cause to file an ex parte petition for issuance of a freeze order and bank inquiry against nine bank accounts associated with the brothers.

These accounts included those solely in Joshua Capiral’s name, or co-owned by him with two other persons and accounts co-owned by Christopher Capiral with three other individuals. /cb