Binay calls AMLC report ‘one-sided,’ ‘whimsical’

Vice President Jejomar Binay INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The report of the Anti-Money-Laundering Council (AMLC) is “one-sided” and “whimsical,” Vice President Jejomar Binay said following the Court of Appeals’s decision to issue a freeze order on his bank accounts.

“One sided lamang ang nasabing report at hindi kami binigyan ng pagkakataong makapagpaliwanag. Uulitin ko ang sinabi ko kahapon: The AMLC is wrong. Maling-mali ang AMLC,” Binay said at the 36^th National Conference of Employers on Friday.

(That report is one-sided and we were not given the opportunity to explain. I will repeat what I said yesterday: the Amlac is wrong. Amlac is truly mistaken.)

READ: AMLC: Binay huge withdrawals made almost at same time as deposits

“Nalaman niyo sa media na ako daw ay may 242 bank accounts. Tinalo ko pa si Bill Gates at Warren Buffet at hindi ko alam na may ganitong karaming bangko sa Pilipinas,” he said.

(You probably learned from media reports that I have 242 bank accounts. Am I richer than Bill Gates and Warren Buffet and am I not aware that there are that many banks in the Philippines?)

Binay said he “was not surprised that AMLC’s  report had been leaked to other parties even as he himself has not yet received a copy.”

“Let us all hope this whimsical use of regulatory powers is stopped sooner than later. It creates a chilling effect on confidence in business and banking system that is detrimental to our economy and development,” the Vice President said.

According to him, he hopes that no one among the owners and officials of the different companies present during the event would be summoned by the Senate since he referred to them as his “dear friends.”

“Now that I have referred to you as dear friends, I hope you will not get an instant invitation from the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee to prove you are not my dummies, and your companies, not my dummy corporations,” he said.

READ: AMLC: Binay, allies deposits reach P11B

He said the freeze order by the CA is being used to “publicly ridiculed, intimidated and harassed” individuals affiliated to him, adding that their bank accounts are now also frozen.

“It is also my prayer your bank accounts will not be subjected by AMLC to a freeze order solely on the basis of our friendship and association, or the fact that you are in the same room as Jojo Binay,” he said. KS