Philippines: Dirty money watch peaks as polls near

By Maricel E. Burgonio, Reporter

The Antimoney Laundering Council (AMLC) said on Monday that it has intensified the watch on dirty money with the expected surge in suspicious transactions before the May elections.

Vicente Aquino, AMLC executive director, said suspicious money could be laundered through bank accounts and end up as campaign funds for unscrupulous politicians.

His remarks came a day after Philippine National Police (PNP) officers in Camp Crame expressed alarm at the sudden slump in antijueteng operations since the start of the year.

The officers, who are preparing a report for anti-illegal gambling legislators, said they feared an increase in the influence of gambling lords.

Other sectors have also warned that narcotics syndicates were also wooing national and local candidates with promises of campaign funds.

Aquino did not connect his statements to the PNP’s concern but said, “we expect an increase of covered transaction reports before forthcoming election.”

“It can be a suspicious account if it be reported exceeding P500,000 or even below that number,” Aquino added.

For 2006, the AMLC’s reported number of suspicious transactions reached 5,642 from banks and nonbanking financial institutions, insurance companies and securities firm, increasing the total figure to 26,019.

The AMLC succeeded in freezing P1.213 billion in suspected accounts as of end-December 2006.

Of this, the AMLC unfroze and returned to investors more than P525 million.

Money laundering are financial crimes that involve the transnational movement of money between jurisdictions. The AMLC was created by the Antimoney Laundering Act (AMLA). It serves as the country’s financial intelligence unit.

The AMLC requires and receives reports on covered or suspicious transaction from covered institutions, including banks and other financial institutions supervised and regulated by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, insurance firms supervised by Insurance Commission, securities dealers and other entities supervised by Securities and Exchange Commission.

Also, it examines or inquires into bank deposits/investments on receipt of court orders.

The country was delisted from the Financial Action Task Force, a global watchdog against money laundering and terrorist financing, following the implementation of the AMLA.

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2007/jan/23/yehey/top_stories/20070123top1.html