Bilibid drug money: NBI still waiting for AMLC records

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II is furious that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) have withheld vital bank information on New Bilibid Prison (NBP) drug operations sought by the National Bureau of Investigation nearly two years ago.

Aguirre said that up to now, the BSP and the AMLC appeared to be “protecting” people or groups involved in the drug trade as insinuated by President Rodrigo Duterte himself when he lashed out at the two agencies in a speech during the NBI anniversary on Monday.

“Yes, the BSP-AMLC gave bank documents shortly after he castigated them in his speech. But the bank documents it gave were only for the narco generals that we asked five months ago. The bank documents involving the NBP drug operations have not been submitted up to now,” he said in a phone interview on Thursday.

Aguirre said that when he met recently with the BSP governor and AMLC chair, Amando M. Tetangco Jr., he was surprised to learn that the NBI had requested bank documents of NBP drug lords, including Herbert Colanggo, Peter Co, and Jaybee Sebastian, as early as January 2015, or a month after then Justice Secretary Leila de Lima led the raid on the maximum security prison.

Criminal negligence?

“But up to now, the NBI is still waiting for these bank documents even after getting a tongue-lashing from the President. This is already criminal negligence,” he said.

The secretary said the bank transactions sought by the NBI could have boosted the case buildup against the convicted drug lords and ended the illegal drug trade before the end of the Aquino administration.

While the BSP and the AMLC claimed that they could not act because of the Bank Secrecy Law, Aguirre argued that since these bank deposits involved suspicious transactions and were considered a “predicate crime,” the dirty money watchdogs should have taken the initiative to gather the documents and submit them to the NBI as early as January last year.

Aguirre contrasted the BSP and the AMLC’s reluctance to help authorities go after drug lords and other money launderers with their enthusiasm in readily providing bank data of political enemies of the previous administration, including the late Chief Justice Renato Corona and former Vice President Jejomar Binay.

Duterte rage

In his speech, the President called the two agencies “garbage” and accused them of “protecting somebody, those who are really into money laundering.”

“I will call for you and you have to answer so many questions to me. You choose, either we cooperate in this government as a Republic to protect and preserve our people or do not make it hard for us, otherwise I will make it hard for you.  There are billions stashed there in the banks, were really being washed or just being kept there in the meantime. Go to the secretary of justice, the AMLC guys, explain to us in public or I will do the explaining for you. Choose,” the President said.

Mr. Duterte also alluded to a big-time drug lord who laundered P5.1 billion in dirty money in just one day under the noses of the BSP and the AMLC.