‘Nearly P100M deposited in Binay account in 4 days’

Vice President Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Contrary to the claim of Vice President Jejomar Binay that he has only five bank accounts, a report from the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) shows that he had 18 accounts in various banks for the period 2008 to 2014, the period covered by the AMLC investigation.

Three of these accounts—at Banco de Oro (BDO), Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) and Metrobank—were held jointly with Binay’s longtime finance officer and alleged bagman Gerry Limlingan.

Another Metrobank account that Binay holds jointly with Limlingan also has a Lily Crystal Hernandez as a joint owner, the AMLC said in its report.

Hernandez, who was found to be a beneficiary of a dollar remittance made from the joint accounts of Binay and Limlingan, is said to be a longtime assistant of Limlingan. She is reported to have fled to Canada after the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee started its investigation of the allegedly overpriced Makati City Hall Building II and Makati Science High School last year.

Bank transactions

According to the AMLC, from Nov. 14, 2013, to Aug. 8, 2014, the joint account of Binay and Limlingan with BDO made six money transfers to two banks in Canada for a total of $276,463 to various beneficiaries.

For a period of four days in March 2010 alone, the individual Binay accounts received total deposits of P99,737,500 million, according to a table of transactions drawn up by the AMLC.

The table also showed that the individual Binay accounts would usually receive large deposits in the amounts of P35 million, P29 million and P15 million.

The lowest amount deposited was P2.5 million.

The AMLC said that “large transactions involving VP Binay’s accounts either in his name or jointly with Limlingan or Hernandez before and after the start of the building construction (of the Makati parking building) from May 14, 2008, to April 15, 2015. Said transactions are not commensurate to his declared income in his SALN (statement of assets, liabilities and net worth), or his business interests.”

242 accounts frozen

The report is contained in the petition that the AMLC filed in the Court of Appeals to freeze 242 bank accounts and other assets of Binay, his family and alleged dummies. The petition was granted by the appellate court last Monday.

Binay has denounced the AMLC report as an attempt to derail his intended run for the presidency in 2016. He claimed that he had only five accounts and the money deposited there was all “acquired legally.”

Five accounts at Bank of the Philippine Islands are in the name of Binay and his wife, Elenita.

SALN examined

The remaining accounts are individual accounts of Binay at the Land Bank of the Philippines, Philippine National Bank and Security Bank, RCBC and Metrobank and BDO. Some of these latter banks held more than one Binay account.

To determine the legitimate income of Binay during the construction of the buildings in question, the AMLC said it looked into the SALN of Binay and his wife.

From 2006 to 2013, the couple’s net worth was shown to have increased by P2.984 million in 2007 and by P1.78 million in 2008, compared to the declared annual gross family income of P1.053 million in 2007 and P1.27 million in 2008.

In 2010 a substantial increase in cash and net worth of P16.17 million and P13.306, respectively, was noted, compared to the declared annual salary of P541,930.

Business interests

In their SALN from 2006 to 2009, Binay and his wife declared their business interests as follows: Agrifortuna Inc. registered in 1992 to engage in agribusiness; JCB Farms in Rosario, Batangas province, acquired in 1995; Blooms and Bouquet flower shop acquired in 1988; and Hermitage & Manor Realty Management Corp., acquired in 1999.

But in their SALN from 2010 to 2013, Binay and his wife no longer declared any interest in JCB Farms while the flower shop continued to operate, the AMLC report said.

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