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SECRETARIAT
OFFICE
OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
PRESS RELEASE
AMLC: BANKS CANNOT UNILATERALLY ALLOW FUND
RELEASES FROM BOLANTE, ET
AL. ACCOUNTS
The frozen bank accounts related to the
so-called fertilizer fund scam case should still be intact because the
Anti-Money Laundering Council has not issued any official confirmation
or instructions to the banks allowing withdrawals from such accounts.
Executive Director Vicente S. Aquino of the
AMLC Secretariat said under Rule 10.5 of the AMLC’s revised
implementing rules and regulations banks should not lift the effects of
a freeze order without securing official confirmation from the AMLC.
He said that his letter to concerned banks
dated 5
January 2009 which was 15 days after the December 20, 2008
expiration of the freeze order was intended to remind them of this
procedural requirement. This letter should in no way be construed as
AMLC’s official confirmation or instruction for them to release
the funds to account owners.
He emphasized that lifting and expiration of
a freeze order are distinct from each other. Expiration does not ipso
facto or automatically bring about the lifting of the effects of
the freeze order and this is known to the Association of Bank
Compliance Officers of the Philippines.
He emphasized that the AMLC and its
Secretariat are not remiss or negligent, as indicated by a series of
their official acts. First, on 30 June 2008 the AMLC through the Office of
the Solicitor General, its statutory counsel, filed a petition to
freeze the bank accounts of
Bolante, et al. This was given due course by the Court Appeals
which issued on 1 July
2008 a 20-day freeze order. Under the Rule on Civil Forfeiture
and Freeze, a Court of Appeals freeze order is good for only 20 days
but its effectivity could be extended to a maximum of six months.
Again through the Office of the Solicitor
General, AMLC obtained on 16 July 2008 an extension of the effectivity
of this freeze order for 30 days.
On 19 August 2008, the Court of Appeals upon
motion by the AMLC through the OSG issued
a Resolution further extending the freeze on the Bolante, et al.
accounts for an additional period of four months or until 20 December 2008. The CA also directed the transmittal
of the case records to the Regional Trial Court for consolidation with
any pending civil forfeiture proceedings in accordance with Section 56,
Rule on Civil Forfeiture and Freeze.
In December 2008, before the expiration of
the freeze order and in line with this CA directive, the AMLC
Secretariat recommended to the AMLC the filing of a civil forfeiture
petition against the frozen Bolante, et al. accounts. The AMLC approved
the Secretariat’s recommendation and issued a Resolution
requesting the OSG to file a petition for civil forfeiture with the
court.
The OSG citing
“supervening event” related to a Supreme Court decision
decided not to file AMLC’s petition for civil forfeiture in the
meantime.
AMLC Secretariat Executive Director Aquino
declared that the AMLC continues to gather evidence in pursuance of its
investigation of the case in close coordination with the OSG.
15
January 2009
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