Escudero: AMLC ignored red flag signals vs Aman

The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) allegedly ignored the clear red flag signals on the investment group Aman Futures Group, Senator Francis Escudero said Tuesday.

 

“It is a puzzle why all the tell-tale signs were ignored by AMLAC when bank transactions and activities by the Aman group and other related companies are already swelling with red flag signals," Escudero, chair of the Senate justice committee, said in a statement.

 

He explained that the Aman Futures scam had been operating "in the open" in Pagadian since two months ago and that even the Securities and Exchange Commission website even came out with a warning against it.

  

And if AMLC had been more "insightful" about these developments, Escudero said the magnitude of the scam could have been lessened.

 

“Now we need the Department of Justice (DOJ) to immediately secure the list of those who invested in Aman Futures and how much investments were put as this may lead to concrete evidence to support the case against the group that duped thousands of people in Mindanao and the Visayas of an estimated P12 billion," he said.

 

The DOJ has already filed charges against Jachob "Coco" Rasuman; his father, former Public Works and Highway Undersecretary Bashir Dimaampo Rasuman; and nine others with syndicated estafa for the alleged scam.

 

In a resolution dated November 22, a DOJ special panel of prosecutors recommended estafa charges against Rasuman and the others in connection with a P120-million investment made by their supposed victim, Abuamar Sambitory, who filed the complaint with the DOJ along with 24 other complainants.

 

With this, he said the AMLC can finally secure or freeze Aman's assets.

 

“The AMLC has authority to freeze the principal accounts and other accounts within what is known as web of accounts. It should be done now. Time is against the hapless  investors if the scammers are already moving to siphon off their loot from the country.  [But] accounts should not be limited to Aman but should also cover those linked to it,” he said.

 

He said that the Aman officers who surrendered can lead authorities to the identify the assets that AMLC can take hold of.

 

Once the assets have been found, he said the government can devise a system that will enable victims to recover part of their investments.

 

“The payment and recovery should start from the smallest investors upwards, not the other way around, all this to protect public interest,” he said

 

Escudero, however, said the DOJ must also look into who invested heavily in Aman.

 

“It should pique the curiosity of the Ombudsman or the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for that matter, to look at any paper trail, data, and record and evaluate if these individuals or groups have been tax compliant,” he said.  

 

Earlier reports had said that local officials also invested in Aman. — Kimberly Jane Tan/RSJ, GMA News