Senate defers hearing of $81-M money laundering issue

The Senate Blue Ribbon committee has deferred the resumption of its inquiry into the alleged $81-million money laundering operations.

The committee led by Sen. Teofisto Guingona III and Senate committee on banks and financial institutions chairman Sen. Sergio Osmeña III issued a statement yesterday that the hearing on the issue has been moved.

There was no date given for the resumption of hearing.

“We will send an updated media advisory once the schedule is final,” the advisory said.

Guingona and Osmeña both sought reelection in the May 9 elections but their current standings in the initial tally shows that they will not return to the Senate, being outside the Magic 12.

Officials also cited the heightened security at the Senate premises where the certificates of canvass and election returns are now kept as the Senate and the House of Representatives prepare to convene as the National Board of Canvassers on May 23.

Guingona initially scheduled the seventh committee hearing on May 12, or three days after the May 9 elections.

In an earlier interview, Guingona said the committee wants to reconcile conflicting testimonies of the resource persons.

The committee will also get more details on where all the stolen money went.

According to Guingona, the committee will conduct more hearings to thresh out the differences in the testimonies.

The committee also hopes to come out with recommendations to amend the existing banking and anti-money laundering laws, at least before the 16th Congress ends in June.

Guingona added his committee still needs to ferret out the whole truth and to get a clearer and more accurate picture of how $81 million in stolen funds were brought into the country and laundered here, and where all the money subsequently went.

“During the April 19 hearing, these three parties – Wong, Deguito and PhilRem – have given the committee their verbal consent to look into their phone records between Feb. 5 and 13. But as of today, none of their lawyers have submitted waivers allowing Globe to furnish us with these information,” Guingona said.

Guingona referred to the lawyers of key witnesses Kim Wong, the casino junket operator; Maia Deguito, former branch manager of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC); and the Philippine Remittance Group (Philrem), a remittance company, who were tasked to submit their waivers on the disclosure of their phone records.

Deguito, Wong and Philrem’s Salud and Michael Bautista have given conflicting testimonies at the Senate, particularly on $17 million in cash that Philrem claimed to have delivered to Chinese national Weikang Xu at Solaire Casino in the presence of Wong, but which Wong claimed to have never received.

“By the time we resume the probe, we would have already compared who is telling the truth,” Guingona said.