MANILA, Philippines – In the face of accusations of ill-gotten wealth, presidential frontrunner Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte yesterday revealed the contents of his bank accounts, disputing allegations that he amassed billions in suspicious transactions.
Duterte took to task the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) for their failure to flag the supposed P2.4 billion in his bank accounts.
In a news conference held at The STAR, Duterte presented documents covering the months of December 2013 to December 2014 and April 1, 2016 to April 30, 2016.
No documents were showed for the year 2015.
Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV earlier claimed Duterte did not declare in his 2014 statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) the P211 million supposedly deposited in a joint Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) account with his daughter Sara.
But Duterte stressed that if the allegations of Trillanes were true, the BSP and the AMLC must have been remiss in flagging the suspicious transactions.
“What Trillanes was claiming that the P2.4 billion has been in my account ever since, then why the hell wasn’t I investigated by the AMLC. That is hidden wealth, not only that, Trillanes is now claiming it was drug money and it also came from smuggling,†Duterte said.
“What I am trying to say is if there is proof, then that is criminal negligence if there was no action on their part. It behooves upon the authority of the ombudsman, especially the Bank of the Philippine Islands, because that is dirty money,†Duterte said.
Duterte threatened to file criminal charges against the BSP and the AMLC for negligence in failing to flag the supposed P2.4 billion in his bank accounts.
Duterte said the BSP and the AMLC committed criminal negligence when they failed to investigate him about his alleged ill-gotten wealth as Trillanes has been claiming.
In same news conference, Duterte showed 11 passbooks of his peso and dollar accounts at the BPI Julia Vargas branch in Pasig City.
Duterte’s bank certification of deposit, which is a joint account with his daughter Sara, showed he has only P17,816.93 in his savings as of March 31, 2014.
Duterte also showed that the same bank account had P17,766.98 as of Dec. 31, 2014 and P74,734.30 as of April 29, 2016.
As of May 3, 2016, one of his passbooks in the same BPI branch also showed he has a total of P128,829.34. (The Philippine Star)