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THE
Court of Appeals (CA) yesterday ordered the freezing of
70 accounts under the name of former agriculture
secretary Jocelyn “Joc-Joc” Bolante and several other
individuals and entities believed to be involved in the
P728-million so-called fertilizer fund scam.
In a
20-page decision penned by Associate Justice Pampio
Abarintos, the CA’s First Division granted the petition
filed by the Antimoney Laundering Council (AMLC) seeking
the issuance of a freeze order against the bank accounts
after finding probable cause that the accounts are
related to the fertilizer fund scam.
The
20-day freeze order covers accounts in various banks and
institutions, such as in AIG Philam Savings Bank Inc.,
Banco de Oro Universal Bank, Citibank N.A., East-West
Bank, Equitable PCI Bank, Maybank Phils. Inc.,
Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., Philippine National Bank
(PNB), Philippine Savings Bank, Planters Development
Bank, Philippine Business Bank, Union Bank, Insular Life
Assce. Co., Pru-Life Insurance Corp. of UK,
Manufacturers Life Insurance Co., Standard Insurance
Co., BPI/MS Insurance Corp., Performance Foreign
Exchange Corp., Bank of the Philippine Islands, Union
Bank of the Philippines, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.
and Standard Chartered Bank.
Besides
Bolante, the AMLC identified the other holders of the
various accounts as Molugan Foundation, the Assembly of
Gracious Samaritans Foundation Inc. (AGS), One Accord
Christian Community Endeavor for Salvation & Success
through Poverty Alleviation Inc., Society’s Multipurpose
Foundation Inc., Alliance for the Conservation of the
Environment of Pangasinan Inc., Sta. Lucia Education
Association of Bulacan Inc., Livelihood Corp., Ariel C.
Panganiban, Donnie Ray G. Panganiban, Jaypee G.
Panganiban, spouses Samuel and Katherine Bombeo and
Eduardo Suerez.
The
appellate court directed the banks and institutions “to
desist from and not to allow any transaction,
withdrawal, deposit, transfer, removal, conversion,
other movement or concealment” of the accounts.
It also
ordered the AMLC to submit within 24 hours from receipt
of the resolution the amount of the monetary instrument,
property or related web accounts as of the time they
were frozen.
Likewise, the AMLC was directed to submit relevant
information on the nature of the monetary instrument and
related accounts pertaining to the monetary instrument
or property subject of the freeze order.
“The
Court finds that petitioner AMLC was able to establish
probable cause that an unlawful activity had been
committed by the aforementioned individuals and
entities, and that the subject accounts are related to
such an unlawful activity,” the appellate court said in
issuing the freeze order.
The CA
has set a summary hearing of the case on July 8, 2008,
to determine whether the freeze order should be lifted,
modified or extended.
Records
showed that based on the 12 suspicious transaction
reports submitted by the PNB, the AMLC issued on
September 18, 2006, a resolution authorizing the filing
of a petition for the issuance of an order allowing
inquiry into the accounts of Livelihood Corp., Molugan
Foundation, AGS, Samuel Bombeo and Ariel Panganiban.
Based on
the suspicious transaction reports, the Livelihood
Corp., of which Bolante was the acting chairman,
transferred in 2004 huge sums of money to the accounts
of Molugan on four separate occasions totaling P172.6
million and to AGS with P40 million.
Molugan
then transferred P38 million to AGS in April 2004, with
AGS returning the favor by transferring the same amount
to Molugan on exactly the same day.
The PNB
said the transactions “have no underlying legal or trade
obligation, purpose or economic justification.”
It added
the transactions did not commensurate with the business
capacity of Molugan and AGS, since they were capitalized
at only P50,000 each.
The bank
also noted that Samuel Bombeo is a signatory in both
foundations.
“It is
unusual for the two foundations to have only one set of
signatories to their accounts, since the huge amount
involved in each transaction ranged from P20 million to
P40 million per transaction,” the PNB reported.
The
executive Judge of the Regional Trial Court in Makati
City granted AMLC’s petition, allowing it to examine the
bank deposits or investments and related web accounts of
the said entities and individuals.
Pursuant
to the resolution, the AMLC sent out 1,696 letters to
several covered institutions requiring them to submit
reports of suspicious transactions, if any, involving
the said entities and individuals, including all related
web accounts as provided under Section 9 (c) of Republic
Act 9160, or the Antimoney Laundering Act of 2001.
Upon
investigation, the Compliance and Investigation division
of the AMLC found that the said accounts are part of the
related accounts used in the fertilizer fund scam.
On May
21, 2008, the AMLC issued Resolution 40, Series of 2008,
which authorized the AMLC Secretariat to file a petition
for freeze order against the accounts of the said
entities and individuals.
The CA
held that the AMLC has sufficiently established probable
cause to warrant the issuance of a freeze order.
Bolante
left the country at the height of the Senate’s
investigation into the alleged fertilizer scam and was
arrested and detained in Los Angeles on July 7, 2006,
after airport authorities found him in possession of a
revoked US visa.
The visa
was revoked after Bolante was tagged by the Senate as
the mastermind of the scam. The former agriculture
executive later applied for political asylum in the US,
but was denied. |
