Sandigan orders Napoles’ bank records opened
The Fifth Division of the Sandiganbayan has ordered with finality the presentation of the bank records of alleged multibillion-peso pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles over the repeated objections of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).
In a four-page resolution dated June 13, released to the media yesterday, the Fifth Division denied “for lack of merit” the AMLC’s motion for reconsideration on the subpoena that the court earlier issued on its reports concerning the financial and bank transactions of Napoles.
In November last year, the Fifth Division issued the subpoena following a motion filed by former senator Jinggoy Estrada in preparation for the upcoming start of the trial proper of his plunder case over his alleged involvement in the scam.
Among the documents subpoenaed by the court was the AMLC’s inquiry report on Napoles’ “bank and other financial transactions” from 2004 to 2012.
Upon Estrada’s request, the Fifth Division also subpoenaed the Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) and the Covered Transaction Reports (CTRs) submitted to AMLC by banks, non-bank financial institutions, covered institutions or any other government agencies concerning the financial transactions of Napoles from 2004 to 2012.
In its new ruling, the court maintained that there is no basis for the AMLC’s claim that the presentation of the STRs and CTRs is prohibited under Section 9 (c) of Republic Act 9160 or the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
The court reiterated that the AMLC is not among the institutions covered by the law’s confidentiality clause.
The court also gave no merit to the AMLC’s argument that the documents sought by Estrada were irrelevant to his case. The court maintained that Estrada has the right to access potential evidence he deemed necessary for his defense.
“The need for the documents and his right to compulsory process outweighs the claims of the AMLC of confidentiality, irrelevancy and generality,” the resolution read.
The court dismissed the AMLC’s claim that the documents it subpoenaed were not identified with particularity.
“As a final note, the AMLC’s assertion that the subpoena is crafted in a general tenor is incredible because a reading of their motion will reveal that it can in itself determine or identify the documents sought to be produced because it can make a judgment of whether the same are relevant or not in the resolution of the instant case,” the resolution penned by Associate Justice Maria Theresa Mendoza-Arcega read.
Estrada had repeatedly denied having any transaction with Napoles concerning his pork barrel allocation.
The plunder trial is set to start on Monday, June 19.