Friday 11 August 2017

The expose that the COMELEC chair cannot evade



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.”
Load disqus comments

0 comments