Changes to anti-money laundering law sought

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s financial intelligence agency has asked the Senate to amend the anti-money laundering law’s confidentiality provision on light of the ongoing fertilizer fund mess probe. Vicente S. Aquino, executive director of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), yesterday told the Senate committee on accountability of public officers and investigations (Blue Ribbon) that he was constrained to divulge information related to the bank accounts of former Agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn "Joc-Joc" I. Bolante under Republic Act (RA) 9160. "I regret to state much as I want to comply with order to disclose information and produce documents in connection with the investigation. I cannot afford to do so without violating [the] law on confidentiality," he told the committee. The AMLC has been investigating Mr. Bolante’s questionable accounts since they received the Blue Ribbon committee report in March 2006, or during the 13th Congress. Mr. Aquino cited "suspicious transaction reports" of Mr. Bolante’s several bank accounts. By law, a one-time deposit of P500,000 is an automatic red flag for AMLC’s monitoring. Mr. Aquino branded as "absurd" a provision in RA 9160 which required AMLC to first notify the account holder of its probe on suspicious bank accounts. Senator Panfilo M. Lacson, author of the law, told Mr. Aquino to submit the AMLC’s recommendations to the eight-year old law "so that we can address your concern." Meanwhile, the Senate has lifted the contempt order against Mr. Bolante, who has been tagged as the mastermind in the alleged illegal diversion of P728 million in fertilizer funds, after the committee yesterday filed charges against the former official with the Justice department. — Bernard U. Allauigan, BusinessWorld