PAF savings and loan group assures depositors funds are ‘prudently managed’

MANILA, Philippines – The savings and loan association of the Philippine Air Force assured its clients that “all their deposits and other transactions were being prudently managed.”

The Air Materiel Wing Savings and Loan Association Inc. (AMWSLAI) issued the statement following reports that Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged mastermind behind the P10 billion “pork barrel” scam, had more than P500 million in deposits in the savings and loan cooperative under her name, her husband, her children and employees running the dummy nongovernment organizations (NGOs) siphoning state funds through ghost projects.

The amount exceeds the P3-million limit under AMWSLAI regulations.

“All deposits and other transactions are prudently managed to the best interest of its members and of the Association,” the AMWSLAI said in a statement issued Tuesday, a day after the report came out on the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

“Since current banking laws prohibit the disclosure of deposits under Section 6 of RA No. 8367, any information [about] subject accounts can only be examined upon the orders of a competent court. However, AMWSLAI would like to assure its members that all transactions are above board and within the confines of the regulations of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP),” it said in an e-mail to INQUIRER.net.

“Further, all accounts are duly reported as covered transactions in compliance to the reporting requirements of the Anti-Money Laundering Council,” it added.

Lawyer Levi Baligod said it was whistle-blower Benhur Luy who carried Napoles’ entire records of funds deposited in an AMWSLAI account.

Baligod, lawyer of Luy, questioned AMWSLAI President and Chairman Ricardo L. Nolasco Jr. who accepted Napoles’ deposit.  Julliane de Jesus

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