Leila gloats as Ombudsman probes Duterte on Trillanes’ raps

Senator Leila De Lima on Thursday had choice words for President Rodrigo Duterte after the Ombudsman announced that it had started its investigation into the Chief Executive's alleged billion-peso bank accounts.

The Ombudsman even said that the documents turned over by the Anti-Money Laundering Council showing the bank transaction records of the Duterte family were similar to those gathered by Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.

"Ngayon Ginoong Duterte, sino kamo ang kurakot? Sana bawiin mo na ang mga pekeng paratang mo sa akin," De Lima said in a statement from her detention at the PNP Custodial Center.

Duterte has repeatedly accused De Lima of being involved in the drug trade.

She is now behind bars on drug charges based on the testimony of high-profile inmates who implicated her as the protector of their drug operations at the New Bilibid Prison.

De Lima, the justice secretary during the Aquino administration, has repeatedly denied Duterte's allegations and those of the inmates.

She said that it would be difficult to tamper the records of the Anti-Money Laundering Council.

"And now AMLC says Duterte has one billion. Not one million, one billion. Try counting in millions. It would still take you one thousand counts before you reach one billion. That is how much money Duterte has," De Lima said in a statement released on Thursday.

"Mahirap pekehin ang AMLC records. Kapag wala kang tagong yaman, katulad ko, wala talagang mailalabas yan, kahit Pangulo at Secretary of Justice pa ang nag-utos sa kanila. Kapag meron ka namang isang bilyon, kahit Pangulo ka pa, hindi yan maitatago sa AMLC," she added.

De Lima then recalled that Duterte and Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre had also promised last year to expose AMLC records on her bank transactions which is said to be amounting to P10 billion.

"I had also information that they attempted to expose alleged foreign accounts of mine, obviously fictitious, akin to what was done to Senator Trillanes," De Lima said.

"For almost a year, and despite all the powers wielded by the President of the Republic, Duterte and his Secretary of Justice are still not able to show a single centavo of AMLC bank transaction records to prove that drug money flowed into my bank accounts. Not even one peso," she added.

Overall Deputy Ombudsman Arthur Carandang said that Trillanes' complaint has sufficient basis for the Office of Ombudsman to start its probe on the alleged multi-billion-peso wealth of Duterte and his family.

He said that he had been authorized by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales to act on the complaint of Trillanes and has already requested the Anti-Money Laundering Council for a final validation on the bank transaction records of the first family.

Meanwhile, the documents turned over by the AMLC to the Ombudsman showing the bank transaction records of Duterte and his family are similar to those gathered by Trillanes.

Trillanes had accused Duterte of having over P2 billion in his bank accounts as he challenged the President repeatedly to sign bank secrecy waivers. —NB, GMA News