Trillanes: Palace bought fake bank records for P10M

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV –INQUIRER PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

President Rodrigo Duterte used bogus bank records obtained by Malacañang for P10 million to back his allegations that Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV maintained offshore accounts, the opposition senator said in a privilege speech on Tuesday.

Trillanes said his informants inside Malacañang told him that a certain Daniel “Snooky” Cruz Jr., who had links to senior officials in the Duterte administration and the Philippine National Police, fabricated the accounts.

“I heard it was sold for P10 million but only around P3 million went to Cruz. So some middlemen made money here,” he said. “I don’t know who they are.”

Bank access

He said Cruz “pretends to be well-connected with the United States embassy” and claimed to be a former federal agent who had access to banks “all over the world.”

He showed a picture of Cruz shaking hands with the President in a Malacañang event on Aug. 31.

He said Cruz also claimed to have been a forensic financial expert and held office at the LTA building in Legaspi Village in Makati City.

Trillanes said he was trying to establish whether Cruz had “links” to the family of former first gentleman Mike Arroyo, which owns the building.

No one was answering at the LTA administration office when the Inquirer called to check whether Cruz holds office at or is employed by any establishment in the building.

Trillanes said Cruz also fabricated bank accounts of Sen. Leila de Lima. He showed the “template” of his and De Lima’s bogus bank accounts at the DBS Bank in Singapore.

Secret accounts

The President had said Trillanes kept secret accounts in DBS and closed them recently.

Trillanes has obtained denials from DBS that he had accounts with it.

Trillanes said that Cruz sold the fabricated De Lima bank record to a Cabinet official last year but it was never released because it was found to be fake upon validation by government agencies.

Cruz changed the details of De Lima’s faked accounts, making it appear that Trillanes was the owner of the bank accounts before selling the faked offshore bank records to Malacañang, the senator said.

“So we have caught them. It’s good there are sympathetic people in Malacañang,” he said.

Trillanes did not identify the Malacañang officials or staff who had allegedly paid for the bogus records.

There was no immediate comment from the President or his spokesperson.

Trillanes repeated his earlier challenge to Mr. Duterte to sign bank waivers to show the soldiers and the people that the President had no undisclosed wealth.

Trillanes had accused the President of keeping P2.2 billion in “hidden wealth,” which Mr. Duterte had denied.

Noting that the President had said he would have himself shot if it were proven he had more than P40 million in bank deposits, Trillanes said the Anti-Money Laundering Council had flagged Mr. Duterte’s transactions in bank accounts that hold P50 million and more from 2006 to 2015.

He said the transactions showed that more than P50 million went into the President’s bank accounts 13 times during the period.

Another P40 million was deposited 21 times during the same nine-year period, according to Trillanes.

Biggest amount

The biggest amount transacted, P193 million, was recorded on Oct. 7, 2013, according to Trillanes.

Businessman Sammy Cang Uy, one of the President’s election campaign contributors, also gave money to the Duterte children and his common law wife, Honeylet Avancena, every six months from 2011 to 2013 that totaled P118 million, Trillanes said.

“If we were to follow the pattern that every April to October, money amounting to P50 million or P40 million goes to the President’s bank accounts, then it will show that the money comes from (Uy),” he said.

“So the question is what is generating your income, Mr. Duterte?” Trillanes asked.

The President was then Davao City mayor and did not own any business, Trillanes said.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III referred Trillanes’ speech to the Senate blue ribbon committee chaired by Sen. Richard Gordon.