FBI man confirms Ping’s dollar account

An official of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirmed that Sen. Panfilo Lacson and his wife have a $200,000 bank deposit in the US, and added that he believes the couple may have three to four more accounts.

FBI agent Kyle Latimer said the FBI’s Financial Crime Action Group is investigating further other possible US accounts of the senator and his wife Alice.

Lacson, the new chairman of the Senate committee on public order and illegal drugs, has insisted in the past that he and his wife do not have dollar accounts abroad and has even promised to resign as senator if the accusations could be proven true.

Meanwhile, the FBI report on the alleged dollar bank deposits in the US of Lacson is now with the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Shown on a video footage interview, Latimer said Lacson and his wife had been interviewed on the matter.

"There are sure accounts ... far fewer than initial reports and I believe there are three to four more accounts," he said during the video clip interview shown to a select group of journalists in Quezon City yesterday.

Latimer said the findings have already been submitted to higher authorities and that agents of the US Treasury Department are also conducting their own investigation.

In the same video clip, an unnamed FBI agent claimed that Lacson attempted but failed to acquire a "green card" after it was discovered that he filed false information about himself.

Lacson is being investigated in the Senate following allegations by Armed Forces of the Philippines Intelligence chief Col. Victor Corpus that the former chief of the Philippine National Police laundered millions of pesos abroad.

Justice Secretary Hernando Perez initially denied receiving the FBI report on Lacson’s bank deposits allegedly derived from illegal activities.

But Justice Undersecretary Manuel Teehankee, who along with National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Reynaldo Wycoco was about to brief Perez on the FBI report, said the document is already with the DOJ.

Both officials refused to talk about the report, but Perez is expected to discuss details of the report today.

"We will make it public later," Perez told reporters.

Sen. Robert Barbers, former chairman of the Senate committee on public order and illegal drugs, announced the reopening of the Senate panel’s investigation on the alleged dollar accounts of Lacson should the DOJ furnish them a copy of the FBI report to support the inquiry.

The FBI report is book-bound and contains photocopies of checks and facsimiles, sources said.

Wycoco was the first to tip the media about the receipt of the FBI report on Lacson’s alleged bank accounts in the US.

The DOJ sought FBI assistance on May 4, 2001 to verify reports that Lacson had accumulated $500,000 million in various bank accounts in the US.

Meanwhile, Barbers defended the "joint committee report" on their investigation of Lacson, saying it was approved by a majority of the members of three committees, contrary to claims.

Barbers was referring to the Senate committee on public order and illegal drugs, the Blue Ribbon committee, and defense committee.

The joint committee report recommended to the DOJ that an investigation into Lacson’s possible participation in the kidnap-for-ransom of six Chinese-Filipinos and in drug-trafficking activities should be conducted.

Lacson has belittled the report, describing it as "a mere scrap of paper intended for black propaganda." — With Efren Danao