AMLC junks Trillanes’ request for Duterte bank transactions

THE ANTI-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) has rejected the request of Senator Antonio F. Trillanes IV for the release of the bank transactions of President Rodrigo R. Duterte.

“We regret to inform that your request, which necessarily includes transactions on the President’s bank accounts, is not allowed under Republic Act No. 1405 or the Bank Secrecy Law,” the AMLC said in its response letter to Mr. Trillanes dated March 29.

Mr. Trillanes, a Feb. 21 letter, asked the AMLC to release the “list of all the flagged/ reported transaction” under Mr. Duterte’s name starting 2006, “in view of the statements of (Mr.) Duterte, publicly announcing that he has directed the AMLC to open to the public his bank transactions.”

However, the AMLC said that granting to Mr. Trillanes’ request would violate the Bank Secrecy Law and would “subject the offender to criminal penalties.”

“Generally, before the AMLC may conduct a bank inquiry, it needs to secure from the Court of Appeals an order allowing such inquiry,” the letter read.

“Absent the foregoing circumstances, the AMLC has neither the power nor authority to conduct a bank inquiry,” it added.

Mr. Trillanes is one of the staunchest critics of Mr. Duterte in the Senate. He claimed that the President’s bank records would show approximately P2 billion worth of transactions from 2006 to 2015.

Mr. Trillanes, who ran and lost the vice-presidential race in 2016 national elections, also alleged last year that Mr. Duterte and his daughter Sarah, mayor of Davao City, maintained undeclared deposits in Bank of the Philippine Islands’ Julia Vargas Avenue branch in Pasig City. —