Escudero sees grounds for probe on Comelec chair's bank accounts

Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero said on Sunday that he wanted to know whether the ill-gotten wealth allegations made against Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Andres Bautista were true, and whether banks helped hide this alleged wealth.

"Maraming katanungan doon. Una, bakit nga ba may 30 bank account ang isang tao... Bakit ang mga deposito ay mababa sa 500,000, kada deposito at na-report ba iyan sa AMLC," Escudero, chairman of the Senate committee on banks, told Super Radyo dzBB.

Chairman Bautista's spouse, Patricia, had revealed that her husband had several passbooks from two branches of the Luzon Development Bank. Furthermore, Mrs. Bautist's lawyer pointed out that the accounts had less than P500,000 in them "to avoid detection" from the AMLC.

Bautista had countered that he kept multiple passbooks because his family had numerous investments.

However, Escudero argued that because Chairman Bautista was a Politically Exposed Person or a PEP, the bank was entitled to report the deposits to the AMLC even if the accounts had less than P500,000 in them.

Escudero added that the bank was also in a position to ask their client acquired the money.

"Under sa Know-Your-Client Rule, may rason, dahilan o karapatan ang bangko tumangging tanggapin ang deposito ng ninuman kung hindi sila kumbinsido na ito ay galing sa legal na pamamaraan," he said. "Normal at regular 'yun na ginagawa ng mga bangko sa kanilang kliyente, lalo na yung itinatawag nating Politically Exposed Person o PEP."

‘Below-the-radar scheme’

Escudero said getting to the bottom of the poll chief's case would help his committee in figuring out whether government officials who had personal relationships with small-bank owners were using these relationships to evade AMLC scrutiny.

"May liability sila sa Bangko Sentral gayundin sa paglabag sa Anti-Money Laundering.  Iyun, 'yun nga yung basehan eh dapat kilala mo man o hindi, dapat inalam mo at may basehan ka san galing 'yung pera," he said.

"Eh, 'di ang mangyayayari niyan, kapag may barkada kang may ari ng banko: 'Pare, kilala mo naman ako, hindi ba? Itago mo na lang ito, huwag mo ng ideklara ito. Tutal naman legal ito.' Hindi pwedeng ganoon," he added.

"Hindi naman nakatutok kay Chairman Bautista pero medyo nakatingin ang marami... sa maliliit na bangko. Below-the-radar scheme ito yung ginagamit ng kung sinu-sino para malusutan yung panukala at yung mga probisyon ng batas."

Should his committee call for a hearing on the matter, Escudero said Chairman Bautista would likely be invited.

"Maliban na lamang kung gusto niyang ipaliwanag ng personal palaging bukas ang pintuan ng komite," the senator added. "Kung matutuloy ang imbestigasyon... for sure [iimbitahin] ang Luzon Development Bank, BSP, at ang AMLC." — Margaret Claire Layug/DVM, GMA News