Drug trafficking and corruption are among the covered transactions under Republic Act 9160, the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001. So the Philippine National Police can move for a probe of any of its members who might be engaged in laundering dirty money earned from drug deals and corrupt practices. In pursuing this, however, the PNP must make sure that the charges will stick.
The PNP is currently focusing on its Drug Enforcement Group, which has been embroiled in a shabu “recycling” scandal that has led to the sacking of two top officials and dozens of lower-ranking members. As of last Friday, 117 of the 1,363 operatives of the PDEG had been relieved on suspicion of involvement in drug-related anomalies.
Pilferage and recycling of illegal drugs seized during police operations is not new. The term “ninja cops” was coined several years ago to describe those engaged in the illegal activities. Sending the perpetrators to prison after conviction, however, has often proved challenging. Several high-profile cases have been thrown out by the courts on what cops might dismiss as mere technicalities, but which judges stressed failed to establish the defendant’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
Proving money laundering can be just as challenging. Merely conducting a reliable lifestyle check to establish ill-gotten wealth can be tricky. If the PNP intends to go after cops laundering drug money, it should make sure that the charges will be airtight. The Anti-Money Laundering Council must be consulted on the best way to go about it.
In line with its planned financial investigation, the PNP can also go after police scalawags through tax cases. US mobster Al Capone did not end up in prison for murder but for five counts of tax evasion. Drug money is big money. In the recent scandal, an estimated 42 kilos of shabu were allegedly pilfered by PDEG operatives from 990 kilos of shabu valued at P6.7 billion that were found in October last year in a warehouse in Tondo, Manila that turned out to be owned by a police master sergeant, Rodolfo Mayo.
Any probe for money laundering is sure to include Mayo, who has been dismissed from the PNP and is under arrest. But there are dozens of others, including two police generals, who are under investigation in connection with illegal drug deals. Any housecleaning in the PNP is a welcome move, but probers must leave no room for rogue cops to be cleared on a technicality.