Mans Carpio adds SEC, IC execs in 'bank leaks' complaint

Lawyer Manases “Mans” Carpio, husband of Vice President Sara Duterte, has included the heads of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Insurance Commission (IC) as respondents in a criminal complaint over the alleged illegal disclosure of bank records.

The addendum to the complaint-affidavit was filed with the Quezon City Prosecutor's Office on Wednesday, May 13, adding the names of SEC Chairman Francis Edralin Lim and IC Commissioner Reynaldo Regalado as additional respondents.

Last month, Carpio filed a complaint against Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Eli Remolona Jr., House Senior Deputy Minority Leader Leila de Lima, and Akbayan Party-List Representatives Percival Cendaña and Chel Diokno, following a report on the couple’s bank transactions at the House of Representatives.

This was for alleged violation of the Bank Secrecy Law, the Data Privacy Act, and the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) as amended.

With the addendum, Carpio alleged that as members of the AMLC, Remolona, Lim, and Regalado, together with the other responders, appear to “have acted jointly, unanimously and in conspiracy with the other respondents in illegally disclosing and criminally divulging the purported contents of the AMLC reports, papers and documents” against him and Duterte.

Carpio maintained “there is prima facie evidence to charge the respondents for the unauthorized revelation of AMLC reports.”

The addendum also requests that the prosecutor issue subpoenas to the new respondents to file counter-affidavits.

Cendaña, in response, said the allegations “are not worth the paper they're printed on.”

“Nonetheless, haharap kami sa Office of the Prosecutor ‘di gaya ni VP Sara Duterte na hindi man lang humarap sa Committee on Justice,” he said.

(Nonetheless, we will face the Office of the Prosecutor, unlike VP Sara Duterte who did not even appear before the Committee on Justice.)

During the House impeachment proceedings against Duterte, the AMLC reported that bank transactions totaling P6.7 billion—classified as covered and suspicious—were recorded under the names of the couple.

The AMLC also confirmed that at least 18 bank transactions linked to Duterte and her family members, as cited in the affidavit of former senator Antonio Trillanes IV, match records of covered and suspicious transaction reports.

On Monday, the House of Representatives—for the second straight year—impeached Duterte on allegations of culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, betrayal of public trust, bribery, and other high crimes. —RF, GMA News