Palace: Trillanes’ claim on Singapore account needs to be verified

Malacañang on Tuesday insisted that Senator Antonio Trillanes IV’s claim that his account at a Singapore bank does not exist should be validated.

“It is something to be verified… The President already checked into the background of that particular account,” presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella told reporters after his briefing in Malacañang.

Duterte claimed last Friday that he received a report that Trillanes’ Zurich and Singapore accounts were already closed.

“Our providers suggested that before closing his Zurich bank account and Singapore bank account––since all of these accounts are single accounts without co-depositor––additionally the information that we provided has existing slips as evidence of these two accounts and were acknowledged to be in existence,” he said.

“The U.S. bank account number 927519921320 in Zurich has a balance of $75,000 or Philippine 3,801,385.05. The DBS account number 178000296012 in Singapore has a balance of 193,000,” he added.

“A closer look on his bank account documents in Zurich and Singapore reveals the name Antonio F. Trillanes. Check on this name because the senator’s complete name is Antonio Fuentes Trillanes, will force to the wall the senator says the bank accounts belong,” Duterte continued.

It was the same account that Trillanes checked during his trip in Singapore.

Trillanes personally went to DBS Bank and inquired about account number 178000296012, and was told by the bank teller, “There’s no such account.”

“I cannot speculate on his intentions, okay? Just the facts. Stick to the facts. Apparently, it was there and it was closed. If that is the case, I will have to check on that,” Abella said, when asked if Trillanes misled the public about his visit in Singapore. —ALG, GMA News