THE Anti-Money Laundering Council’s plan to demolish the credibility of Vice President Jejomar Binay became obvious when it failed to prevent the $81-million bank heist that had stunned the nation, Binay’s camp said Wednesday.
“The AMLC was devoting much of its precious time looking for the imaginary anomalies committed by the Vice President that it was unable to recognize an actual robbery happening right under their noses,” said Toby Tiangco, president of Binay’s party United Nationalist Alliance.
“The AMLC is too distracted. While the biggest heist was ongoing, they were busy plotting coming out with a rehashed and outdated supposed AMLC report just to pin down VP Binay right before the presidential debate.”
Tiangco made his statement even as a Senate inquiry resulted in revelations on what could be the biggest cyber heist in the world. He said the crime could have been averted if only the AMLC, led by the central bank’s governor, had been focused on its job.
“The AMLC was very busy being a tool for political persecution and harassment in the guise of running after the corrupt. They may as well have welcomed those thieves with open arms,” Tiangco said.
Binay said the AMLC was part of the campaign being mounted against him by his detractors. He expressed hope that his prayers would allow him to see past his political enemies’ efforts to pull down his numbers and focus on his mission to listen to what the poor expected from the next president.
“The continuing demolition by perception was there. It is included in their program. They are preparing for the second debate, the Ombudsman and the CoA,” Binay said.
The AMLC has twice corrected its petition for asset protection that was filed in November last year before the Manila Regional Trial Court, admitting that Binay had only one bank account that contained P1.7 million and not billions as the agency had earlier claimed. Vito Barcelo
Tiango said the AMLC had failed to prove the allegations of Renato Bondal that the Vice President stole from the funds meant for Makati projects.
