NBI files perjury charges vs Lacson

It’s a sin to tell a lie. In some cases, it is also a crime.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) filed yesterday six criminal cases, including perjury, against Sen. Panfilo Lacson with the Office of the Ombudsman for his alleged failure to declare his dollar accounts in overseas banks.

Acting as principal complainant, NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco filed five counts of violation of Republic Act 6713, or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Government Officials and Employees, against Lacson for the senator’s alleged failure to file his Statement of Assets and Liabilities and Net Worth (SAL) covering the years 1995, 1997, 1998 and 2000.

Lacson, in his SAL for 2001, also allegedly failed to disclose his investment dividends from a firm trading in luxury cars.

In his complaint affidavit, Wycoco also filed one count of perjury against Lacson for misdeclaration of his SAL for 1996. The perjury charge stems from Lacson’s reported failure to include in his 1996 SAL his $16,695.03 deposit in Bank of America account number 17478-00046.

Wycoco said Lacson declared his net worth as P4 million in his SAL for that year. Lacson also said he only had P380,000 in ready cash and bank deposits, but excluded his Bank of America account deposits from his SAL. Perjury is penalized under Article 183 of the Revised Penal Code.

The charges against Lacson were personally filed by NBI Anti-Graft Division chief Jose Justo Yap at 1 p.m. yesterday, Wycoco said.

Wycoco’s complaint against Lacson is partly based on letters dated June 26 and 27 and delivered on July 19 this year from the Civil Service Commission (CSC) that stated that the commission has no records of Lacson’s SAL for 1995, 1997, 1998 and 2000.

Wycoco also said "the charges (against Lacson) were based on the consolidated report furnished last May to the NBI by the US Justice Department on the various bank deposits of Senator Lacson and his wife, Alice, in banks in the US."

Wycoco said the US Department of Justice report on Lacson was provided to the NBI and the Philippine Justice Department by US Attorney for the Northern District of California Miles Erlich under the

RP-US Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty which took effect on Nov. 23, 1996.

"We have submitted all the documents given by the US Department of Justice. We also have the documents from the National Statistics Office (NSO) and (Lacson’s) SAL," Wycoco said.

Lacson dollar accounts

Despite Lacson’s statement that he has no dollar accounts on Sept. 5, 2001 before a Senate hearing, investigation by the NBI showed that Lacson and his wife indeed have dollar accounts totaling $1,569,897.93 (P61,221,885.87).

Wycoco recalled in an earlier interview that Lacson "even issued the challenge that if it be proven that he indeed maintained such accounts, he would walk to the nearest prison cell without the benefit of trial. Regarding the alleged dollar accounts, these were confirmed, including all the checks that he issued."

The NBI found that Lacson is maintaining two accounts in Bank of America in the United States containing deposits totaling $702,086.37 — P18,397,677.57, as computed based on the peso-dollar exchange rates from 1991 to 2001 based on figures furnished by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to the NBI.

The NBI chief said Lacson is maintaining account number 17471-00188 at the Bank of America, with deposits amounting to $308,442.20 (P8,089,130.57) and Bank of America account number 17478-00046 with deposits totaling $393,644.17 (P10,318,547).

Wycoco also disclosed that Lacson’s wife, Alicia Deperio Lacson, is maintaining two bank accounts in Bank of America and one account in Wells Fargo Bank totaling $666,711.56 (P33,083,932.30)

Mrs. Lacson’s Bank of America account numbers 24301-01390 and 24306-1369 contained $455,611.15 (P22,690,595) and $210,140.41 (P10,342,368), the NBI chief said.

Wycoco said Mrs. Lacson’s Wells Fargo bank account number 017-3559789 contained $1,000 (P50,969.30).

Lacson also failed to declare in his SAL for 2001 his business interest in Orient Lights LLC Inc., which has deposited dividends of $200,100 (P9,689,306.70) in Wells Fargo account number 201-857365, Wycoco said. Orient Lights is engaged in the import and export of luxury cars from Europe and Japan.

Mrs. Lacson also failed to disclose her own investment in Orient Lights worth $101,684.72 in her joint SAL with Senator Lacson in 2001, the NBI chief said.

Opportunity?

Far from being fazed by the NBI chief’s lawsuits, Lacson said yesterday that he sees this event as a chance for him to clear his name once and for all.

Lacson said he does not yet have a copy of the NBI’s formal complaint and the charges against him: "I have yet to see a copy of the formal complaint, but, obviously, this is but one of (Wycoco’s) politically motivated publicity stunts."

The senator, in a statement, instead poked fun at the charges leveled against him by the NBI.

"Wycoco is like a bedbug that keeps on biting and it is beginning to irritate me. The damage done so far is the itch that I have to scratch every now and then," he said.

Lacson said he has always been truthful in filing his SALs and that the best proof of this is the SAL documents themselves.

The neophyte senator added that Wycoco should be charged with usurping the powers of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) in filing charges of money laundering against Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) Binangonan branch cashier Acsa Ramirez.

Lacson said the law grants only the AMLC the authority to cause the filing of complaints for the prosecution of money laundering offenses before the Department of Justice (DOJ) or the Office of the Ombudsman.

"He (Wycoco) clearly ignored these provisions and, in so doing, he and President Arroyo are committing further injustices to (Ramirez)," Lacson said.

Lacson was referring to the LandBank cashier who, despite being the whistle blower on the P205 million tax diversion scam at the bank, was charged with 11 counts of violating of the Anti-Money Laundering Law earlier this week. — With Efren Danao