AMLC forfeits P902-M dirty money in 2017, including P52-M seized in Marawi conflict

The Anti-Money Laundering Council has forfeited or frozen P901.82 million in dirty money in 2017, including at least P52 million in hard cash seized by the military during the Marawi siege.

According to the Commission on Audit’s annual audit report, the AMLC disclosed to state auditors the issuance of Resolution Nos. TF-09 and T-10 for the freeze order on “all the bank accounts and other assets owned and controlled by the Maute Group.”

This included the P52 million recovered by troops from “a Maute/Abu Sayyaf-controlled area” last June, weeks after Marawi City was engulfed in armed conflict, prompting President Duterte to place the whole Mindanao region under martial law.

While the COA report did not say the total amount of frozen funds related to the Maute  Group, it stated that “bank inquiry on the bank accounts is ongoing.”

All in all, the total amount forfeited or frozen by the AMLC since 2001 reached P8.165 billion as of December 2017, or P901.82-million (12.41 percent) more than the P7.263-billion total as of December 2016.

Of the forfeited amounts as of 2017, P721.83 million were returned to the victims of criminal activity, while P48.86 million went to the government and another P100.88 million was turned over to the Ombudsman. Another P40.31 million was also forfeited, but the execution remained pending as of reporting time in December 2017.

As of December 2017, P3.525 billion remained tied up in pending civil forfeiture cases and another P1.496 billion was subject of pending freeze orders.