Forex dealer: No cases with BSP

MANILA, Philippines — Key West Trading has no pending case before the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and remains licensed as a foreign exchange dealer, remittance agent and money changer.

The Binondo-based company said recently it is not connected with the two firms whose certificates of registration as remittance agent, foreign exchange dealer, and money changer were earlier revoked by the BSP.

Last May, the BSP announced it has revoked the licenses of Edzen Enterprises of Zenaida Artuz and World Wide Money Changer of Elliot Artuz to operate as remittance agent, foreign exchange dealer, and money changer.

Both Edzen Enterprises and World Wide Money Changer were linked to the pork barrel scam allegedly masterminded by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.

It was earlier reported that court data showed Edzen Enterprises and Key West Trading were the principal money remitters and foreign exchange dealers used by Napoles to send stolen funds from the Philippines to the United States.

Napoles and her associates allegedly siphoned off P10 billion in Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) or pork barrel funds over an eight-year period. Of this amount, P3 billion reportedly went to Napoles.

The PDAF is a lump-sum appropriation under the control of individual members of the Senate and the House of Representatives who had discretion to assign the funds to particular development projects.