AMLC rejects Jinggoy’s bid to subpoena ‘pork’ documents

Sen. Jinggoy Estrada. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/LYN RILLON

The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) has asked the Sandiganbayan to quash the subpoena requested by detained ex-senator Jinggoy Estrada on various documents pertaining to the alleged pork barrel scam.

In a three-page motion on Dec. 15, the AMLC told the antigraft court’s Fifth Division that it cannot submit to the court certain items requested by Estrada, particularly the documents containing the transactions of pork barrel mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles, because of confidentiality and the possibility of legal violations.

Because of this, it asked the court to quash the subpoena duces tecum (subpoena for production of evidence) it issued on Nov. 29.

The AMLC said it had already submitted the resolutions and pleadings regarding “bank and other financial transactions” of Napoles and related accounts from 2004 to 2012. These documents “already form part of the record of the case.”

But as for Estrada’s request for “any and all AMLC memoranda” on Napoles’ transactions, AMLC said it would be unable to produce them in court for confidentiality reasons.

It said memoranda involved “purely internal matters submitted to the Council members for their consideration, deliberation and resolution.”

The AMLC also said it would be unable to present the Suspicious Transactions Reports and Covered Transaction Reports submitted by the banking and nonbanking institutions and government agencies regarding Napoles’ accounts.

It said presenting the reports in court would result in an “indirect violation” of Section 9(c) of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001.