Carpio files suit over bank secrecy, privacy violations

MANILA, Philippines — As he had vowed to do last week, the husband of Vice President Sara Duterte filed criminal complaints yesterday against officials of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Anti-Money Laundering Council, as well as against members of the justice committee of the House of Representatives, for alleged violation of the bank secrecy and data privacy laws.

Lawyer Manases Carpio filed the complaint with the Quezon City prosecutor’s Office against BSP Governor Eli Remolona Jr., AMLC executive director Ronel Buenaventura and Representatives Gerville Luistro, Leila de Lima, Percy Cendaña and Chel Diokno. Luistro is chairperson of the justice committee, which is hearing the impeachment case against Duterte. De Lima, Cendaña and Diokno are members of the committee.

Asked for comment on Carpio’s legal action, Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said it is within anyone’s right to file charges.

“The question is whether it would prosper,” Castro said at a press briefing yesterday.

“The President does not control whatever decision the court will make. Our courts, our judges and our justices are intelligent people. They know the laws that apply and how (cases) are dismissed or how they progress,” she added.

Carpio’s legal counsel Peter Danao said the complaint stemmed from the lawmakers’ issuance of subpoenas to the AMLC on the Vice President’s husband’s financial transactions, which were laid bare at the justice committee’s hearing last April 22.

“They moved for the subpoena to be signed, and AMLC subsequently followed,” Danao said. “Whoever was involved in divulging the transactions has to be held accountable.”

According to Danao, the House committee on justice violated the anti-money laundering law’s absolute prohibition on AMLC disclosure of private financial records.

“You cannot divulge information when there’s no pending money laundering case filed,” Danao said, adding that Carpio has also not received a copy of the AMLC report on the transactions.

“We did not consent. In fact, we wrote a cautionary letter to AMLC last April 16 before they released the subpoena,” Danao said.

The counsel further maintained that the act appeared to be a “fishing expedition,” citing the requested financial transactions as dating back to 2006, or during a period when Duterte was still a private citizen.

On April 22, the House committee on justice revealed insurance payments, time deposits, investments and utility bill transactions, amounting to around P6.77 billion, linked to Carpio and his wife, the Vice President.

“Respondents conspirationally appear to have ‘weaponized’ the AMLC, among others, for political propaganda, harassment and destroy the reputation of Sara and the entire Duterte family,” Carpio said.

Unfazed

Members of the justice committee, meanwhile, belittled Carpio’s criminal complaint.

“Nowhere in the complaint is there a categorical denial of the existence, accuracy or magnitude of the financial records presented. It does not dispute the billions in transactions, the movements across accounts or the overall volume of financial activity,” Rep. Terry Ridon observed.

“Can these billions in financial flows – including a net inflow of P2.88 billion – be reconciled with the VP’s declared assets, net worth and lawful income? The attempt to reframe the issue as one of confidentiality or procedure does not answer this question. It merely avoids it,” Ridon said.

“It gives rise to unexplained wealth, which may constitute a betrayal of public trust under the Constitution. The complaint does not refute this. It does not reconcile the numbers. It does not explain the gap. It simply seeks to avoid the issue,” the Bicol Saro party-list congressman stressed.

He also said Carpio cannot simply brush aside his culpability by claiming he is a just private citizen. Lawmakers argued his spouse is a public servant who is accountable to the people.

For Rep. Joel Chua, Carpio’s complaint is “diversionary,” as he reminded the Vice President’s husband that members of Congress “enjoy immunity from prosecution.”

“It is a diversionary tactic and apparently intended to hide the fact that VP Duterte and her husband Manases Carpio allegedly had P6.7 billion in bank transactions, as reported by the Anti-Money Laundering Council,” Chua, chairman of the House committee on good government, stressed.

Rep. Perci Cendaña of Akbayan party-list said that while Carpio is entitled to take legal action, he should make sure his case stands on solid ground.

“What law did House members and AMLC violate? The answer is none. And it is as clear as sunlight during lunchtime that the exception in the opening of bank accounts – where the bank secrecy is almost absolute – is the impeachment hearings. They are covered by the Bank Secrecy Law and Anti-Money Laundering Act,” he said.

“My unsolicited advice to the camp of VP Duterte is: instead of wasting your time wasting papers and filing cases in courts, why don’t you just attend the April 29 hearing of the House committee on justice? There she should explain everything,” Cendaña said. — Delon Porcalla, Alexis Romero