Luy kept P152M in bank accounts from 2005 to 2013 – Jinggoy Estrada

PRIMARY pork barrel scam whistleblower Benhur Luy had kept nearly P152 million in cash deposits in various banks from 2005 to 2013, according to detained Sen. Jinggoy Estrada.

In an interview after his bail hearing in the Sandiganbayan on Monday, Estrada said he was able to get hold of a copy of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) investigation into Luy’s alleged bank accounts.

The senator showed a summary of Luy’s purported bank transactions which, he said, were contained in the AMLC report.

“These are the documents I obtained showing proof that their main whistleblower, Benhur Luy, had amassed millions of pesos based on the report of the AMLC,” Estrada told reporters.

“I have documents here to prove that he has a lot of (bank) accounts. Now, the question is, who is the real thief? Who amassed huge amounts of money? Is it me or him? The documents will not lie,” he added.

Estrada, held in a police detention center since June 2014 after he was indicted for plunder in relation to the P10-billion pork barrel racket, said his lawyers were supposed to present the documents in his bail hearing.

Asked if he would still submit to the court a copy of the supposed AMLC report on Luy’s purported financial transactions, he said he would just let his lawyers decide on the matter.

The summary of several transactions on Luy’s alleged bank accounts showed that he had a total of P59.8 million in four separate accounts in Metrobank from 2005 to 2013.

It also showed that Luy, whose revelations about the elaborate fund scam prompted a special audit on the lawmaker’s Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), or pork barrel, had P76 million in three separate accounts in Air Materiel Wings and Savings and Loan Association Inc. from 2009 to 2012.

Another account in UCPB showed that Luy had P16.1 million from 2011 to 2012.

Justice Undersecretary Jose Justiniano immediately came to Luy’s defense, saying the government’s major witness against Estrada and other lawmakers charged over the PDAF scam was covered by immunity from suit.

“No more,” Justiniano replied when asked if Luy could be charged criminally for supposedly maintaining huge bank deposits.

“Once you’re admitted to the Witness Protection Program, you’re already acquitted in the case. Whatever evidence they may gather in relation to the PDAF scam, they cannot file a case against the whistleblowers,” he said.

Justiniano said he was aware that Luy had bank deposits, but they did not contain big amounts of money. SFM/AC