THE Supreme Court has denied the bid of the
Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to open the web of bank
accounts of former government officials and private individuals
who allegedly conspired to approve the anomalous Terminal 3 of
the Ninoy Aquino International Airport project.
The SC’s Second Division sustained the ruling
of the Court of Appeals which issued a status quo order on the
July 1, 2005 ruling of the Makati regional trial court granting
AMLC the authority to inquire and examine the bank accounts of
former Transportation Secretary Pantaleon Alvarez, and Lilia
Cheng, wife of Cheng Yong, president of the Philippine
International Air Terminals Co. (Piatco), the contractor that
built the NAIA-3.
Also being investigated were the bank
accounts former DOTC undersecretary Wilfredo Trinidad and Piatco
consultant Alfredo Liongson.
Another case filed by AMLC seeking the
implementation of the Manila regional trial court’s 2006 order
finding merit in the council’s application to inspect some 13
accounts and two related web accounts in accordance with the
Anti-Money Laundering Act (RA 9160) was consolidated by the SC
with the above case.
The SC ruled that the Manila RTC did not
abuse its discretion in issuing a subsequent order deferring the
implementation of its 2006 order to inquire into these accounts
– including Alvarez’s DBS account and Cheng’s and Yong’s
Metrobank accounts – which were allegedly used to facilitate
corruption in the NAIA-3 project.
The high court said RA 9160 does not allow
courts to issue ex parte bank inquiry orders without hearing or
notification of the other parties. The SC said that although a
bank inquiry order may be availed of without the need of a
pre-existing case, it does not follow that such order may be
availed of without hearing or notification of the other parties.
The AMLC had sought to inquire into the
accounts of the four accused based on the findings of its
Compliance and Investigation Staff (CIS) that amounts were
transferred from a Hong Kong bank account owned by Jetstream
Pacific Ltd. to bank accounts in the Philippines maintained by
Liongson and Yong.
Lilia Cheng went to the CA to block the move,
arguing that the ex-parte applications of AMLC to inquire about
her bank deposits violated her constitutional right to due
process.
Lilia jointly owns with Yong conjugal bank
accounts at Citibank and Metrobank.
She stressed that the bank inquiry order under the AMLA can
only be granted where there is already a pre-existing money
laundering offense case filed before the courts and that AMLA
does not apply to bank accounts opened and transactions entered
into prior to its effectivity or to bank accounts located
outside the country. – Evangeline C. de Vera
