‘Rodrigo, Sara Duterte joint accounts had P193-M transactions in 1 day’

MANILA, Philippines — The joint accounts of Vice President Sara Duterte and her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, had P193 million worth of unique bank transactions in just one day in March 2014, Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) reports showed.

During the resumption of the impeachment trial against the vice president, Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura, a witness of the prosecution panel, was asked about the nature of the accounts that made the following transactions in March 28, 2014, which totaled to P193,705,615.88:

• reference number ending in 2490: P41,721,056.62
• reference number ending in 2540: P55,131,747.32
• reference number ending in 2510: P20,000,000.00
• reference number ending in 2500: P20,000,000.00 
• reference number ending in 2480: P16,852,832.94
• reference number ending in 2520: P20,000,000.00
• reference number ending in 2490: P20,000,000.00 

In response, Buenaventura said it belonged to former president Duterte and Vice President Duterte.

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READ: Impeachment court allows AMLC exec to testify despite defense objection

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“Yes, Atty. Buenaventura, we had a question left hanging: who owned these accounts that are involved in these transactions?” counsel for the prosecution, Mae Divinagracia, asked.

“The first was from former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and Sara Z. Duterte, so this is a joint account.  The second is Rodrigo Roa Duterte and Sara Z. Duterte; all of those on page 9 are under former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and Sara Z. Duterte.  And the last, Rodrigo Roa Duterte and Sara Duterte,” Buenaventura replied.

The transactions were part of the P4.4 billion in financial movements that AMLC flagged in its reports on covered and suspicious transactions. 

At one point in the discussions, Senate Impeachment Court Presiding Officer Francis Escudero asked whether the transactions were made on the same day and whether these were unique movements.

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Buenaventura said the code under the AMLC’s covered transaction reports (CTRs) was an IA—inter-account transfer.

“The code po is TRIA, inter-account transfer po, CTR-IA po means inter-account transfer, so this is a movement of funds from one account to another client’s account within the same bank, Your Honor,” Buenaventura said.

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“Within the same bank, but different transactions?” Escudero asked.

“Yes, Your Honor, they have different transaction codes, so they are treated as unique transactions,” the AMLC chief added.

Objections

Vice President Duterte’s lawyers, particularly counsel for the respondent Mark Vinluan, opposed the showing of total numbers on the Senate livestream, noting that the actual AMLC report did not have a total — and that a total or an aggregate amount may have a misleading effect.

“Your Honor, again […] but again, Your Honor they’re already presenting an aggregate total in their presentation your Honor, particularly our powerpoint presentation, I would just like to manifest your Honor that the CTRs do not indicate any aggregate total or grand total your Honor, because it creates a perception your Honor whether it’s correct or wrong,” Vinluan said.

“May we just, Your Honor, have this taken down, Your Honor?” he asked.

Escudero, however, did not allow it, noting that Buenaventura had testified that these were unique transactions and therefore could be added.

The presiding officer then asked Buenaventura if these were double-booked transactions — or transactions that referred to the same exact amount of money that moved within the Dutertes accounts.  Buenaventura reiterated that these are unique transactions because they have different reference numbers.

“Unfortunately, counsel, the court will allow it to stay because it’s quite clear, given the intervention of the presiding officer, that these are unique accounts in one day, and he further explained that these are mere transfers from one account to another, but that these are unique transactions,” Escudero said.  “Atty. Ronel, so these are not double-booked transactions; these are unique transactions?”

“As reported to us, Your Honor, because they have separate transaction reference numbers, Your Honor,” Buenaventura replied.

When asked whether it is proper to have a total of the financial transactions made in March 28, 2014, Buenaventura said he is not in the position to say this — leading Vinluan to manifest that the witness cannot ascertain whether it is proper or not to show a total value.

“Is it proper to total because these are unique transactions?  Is it correct for us to provide a total of the amounts involved in the transaction made in a single day?  Because as you said, these transactions are unique,” Escudero said.

“I cannot say po you Honor, I cannot say if it is proper or not your Honor,” Buenaventura said.

“We just manifest for the record, Your Honor, that he said that he doesn’t know if it’s proper or improper, and we’ll just register a continuing objection, Your Honor,” Vinluan added.

However, Vinluan’s request to remove the total shown on the Senate’s livestream was denied.

During the hearing of the House of Representatives’ committee on justice on the two impeachment complaints against vice president Duterte, Buenaventura also appeared to report that they found covered and suspicious transactions made by her and her relatives, amounting to P6.7 billion.

This includes a total of P4.4 billion in inflows and P1.5 billion worth of outflows.

Buenaventura clarified that covered transactions are bank transactions over P500,000, which banks report to the council.  Suspicious transactions, meanwhile, refer to those whose amounts are not determined, but were reported by banks because there is something questionable in terms of how funds were sourced.

READ: AMLC confirms suspicious transactions made by Sara Duterte, kin

Later that day, Buenaventura confirmed at least 18 Duterte transactions mentioned in the sworn affidavit of former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who has accused the Dutertes of hiding bank accounts not disclosed in their Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN).

The confirmation happened after Mamamayang Liberal Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima randomly picked 18 financial transactions listed in Trillanes’ annexes and asked AMLC to check if this was part of their investigation.

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Eventually, Buenaventura confirmed that 18 out of 18 randomly picked transactions from Trillanes’ affidavit matched the AMLC’s records. /jpv