Binay camp on AMLC dare: Leave VP out of this ‘drama’

Presidential candidate Vice President Jejomar Binay.
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/LYN RILLON

The camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay said the vice president should be spared from challenges from his opponents to subject his and his family members’ bank accounts to the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).

In a statement on Monday, Binay’s spokesperson Atty. Rico Quicho said this is because the AMLC had already investigated Binay’s bank accounts.

The AMLC secured an order from the Court of Appeals to freeze the 242 bank accounts linked to Binay, his son Junjun, and his purported dummies, which allegedly contained P11 billion since 2008.

The freeze order was issued in connection with the Ombudsman investigations on alleged irregularities in the construction of the purportedly overpriced Makati City Hall Building II and Makati Science High School.

Quicho said because Binay had already been persecuted by the AMLC, the other candidates should be the ones to allow the AMLC to examine their accounts.

“There have been calls for candidates to sign a waiver to open bank accounts. Leave the vice president out of this drama… (The other candidates) should consider allowing AMLC to examine as well the bank accounts here and in other countries of businesses, corporations, and foundations identified with them or their spouses, family, friends, and associates, which were all scrutinized by AMLC in the vice president’s case,” Quicho said.

Quicho made the statement after Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and his running mate Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano signed a bank secrecy waiver that would allow an opening of their bank accounts for public scrutiny.

Duterte dared his opponents to do the same especially in light of the graft indictment by the Ombudsman against the vice president and his son dismissed Makati Mayor Junjun Binay over allegations of rigging in the purportedly overpriced Makati car park building.

The Ombudsman has charged the younger Binay before the Sandiganbayan for graft and falsification of public documents. Meanwhile, the Ombudsman said it would charge the vice president when his immunity ends after his term.

Quicho refuted reports about the AMLC and said Binay’s frozen accounts only contained P1.7 million and not billions “wrongly and maliciously reported” in the media.

“As a sign of good faith, the vice president voluntarily manifested before the court that he will not touch the said account for the duration of the case, which I am confident will eventually be dismissed,” Quicho said.

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