Manila
Times veteran journalist , former
Ambassador, and Press Secretary of former President Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo – Rigoberto Tiglao in his August 11 article explains why Commission on Elections Chairman
Andres Bautista can be guilty of the Anti- Money Laundering Act of 2001. His wife was able to present actual passbooks of
the 35 multiple accounts to the public, on that basis alone you already know
something is not right.
Read his
full article below:
Have BSP and AMLC been
sleeping on the job?
 |
| COMELEC Chair Andy Bautista and his wife Patricia " Tish" Bautista, the expose of the wife where the COMELEC chair has multiple accounts with the Luzon Development Bank can lead to his impeachment ( Photo credit to Bilyonaryo website) |
BANKERS, or even just
wealthy people, who are familiar with the vastly stricter banking regulations
since the Anti-Money Laundering Act was passed in 2001 are convinced that
Commission on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista is guilty as hell of amassing
ill-gotten wealth for one particular reason:
Bautista has had 35 multiple
accounts in a small thrift bank Luzon Development Bank, for no clear legitimate
business reason. Three days after his wife Patricia presented the actual
passbooks to the public, Bautista has not denied that he had or has these
accounts in one bank. He gave only lame excuses that “a few of those accounts”
had been closed and that “these are not all mine.”
The use of multiple accounts
is one of the glaring red flags for money- laundering activities. In the trial
of Sen. Ramon Revilla for stealing pork-barrel money, for instance, the
prosecution presented an Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) lawyer who
testified: “The maintenance of quite a number of bank accounts is an indication
of a money-laundering scheme.”
Anti-money laundering
manuals all over the world in fact list such multiple accounts as one of the
major red flags for money laundering. For instance, the US Federal Financial
Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) in its manual “Money Laundering Red
Flags: Deposit Accounts” listed as top warning signs of such criminal schemes:
• “4. Customers with
multiple accounts. A customer maintains multiple accounts at a bank or at
different banks for no apparent legitimate reason. The accounts may be in the
same names or in different names with different signature authorities.
Inter-account transfers are evidence of common control.
• 5. Frequent deposits or
withdrawals with no apparent business source. The customer frequently deposits
or withdraws large amounts of currency with no apparent business source, or the
business is of a type not known to generate substantial amounts of currency.”
Bautista’s accounts clearly
fall under these two red flags, unless one believes that the Presidential
Commission on Good Government which he headed, or the Comelec which he still
chairs, are “businesses known to generate substantial amounts of currency.”
0 comments