AMLC barred from delegating bank deposit examinations

By MA. ELOISA I. CALDERON, BusinessWorld Reporter The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) has been barred from passing on to other agencies the task of looking into suspicious bank accounts. In a five-page legal opinion, the Department of Justice said Republic Act 9160 or the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001 does not authorize the council to deputize the inquiry into bank deposits, which enjoy secrecy under Philippine laws. "This department is of the opinion that the AMLC cannot deputize another government agency to exercise the authority granted to it under Section 11 of the [act] to inquire into or examine any deposit or investment with any banking institution or nonbank financial institution," Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said. The legal opinion was issued in answer to AMLC Executive Director Vicente S. Aquino’s query on at least two provisions of the anti-dirty money law. Mr. Aquino noted that while Section 11 of the law gives the investigating body the power to inquire into bank deposits, another provision, Section 7 (10), allows it to "enlist" the assistance of any government agency in the discharge of its anti-money laundering operations. Mr. Gonzalez, however, said the fact that the Lagislature had provided in a separate provision the AMLC’s power of inquiry into bank accounts showed its intent "not to authorize the AMLC to deputize another government agency to exercise" the powers. Section 7 of the AMLA, he noted, merely enumerates the functions of the council. The Justice chief added that Section 11 of the AMLA was another exception to the general rule stipulated in the Law on Secrecy of Bank Deposits, which holds that all bank deposits of whatever nature are absolutely confidential. "It is a settled rule of statutory construction that the express mention of one person, thing or consequence implies the exclusion of all others," Mr. Gonzalez said. "It proceeds from the premise that the Legislature would not have made specific enumerations in a statute, had the intention been not to restrict its meaning and confine its terms to those expressly mentioned," he added.