BSP denies it leaked Corona's accounts
MANILA, Philippines - The Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Monday said the leak of Chief Justice Renato Corona's Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) accounts did not come from them.
The central bank, in a press statement hours after day 20 of the impeachment trial, said its examiners didn't access Chief Justice Renato Corona's deposit account records, including his signature cards, when PSBank underwent regular examination from October 21 to December 6, 2010.
"[BSP examiners] never requested to see the deposit account records of the Chief Justice nor were they presented the deposit accounts of the Chief Justice," the central bank said.
"BSP examiners therefore could not have copied nor secured copies of such deposit account records including the signature cards of Chief Justice Renato Corona," it added.
The central bank said that while PSBank was undergoing regular examination in 2010, bank employee Grace dela Cruz revealed to BSP examiner Jerry Leal that Corona won P1 million in the PSBank's raffle for valued account holders.
Politically-exposed persons
Leal is an anti-money-laundering specialist of the BSP and is not necessarily a member of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), contrary to reports that surfaced from Monday's proceedings.
Leal then verified PSBank had properly classified its accounts of politically-exposed persons (PEP) such as politicians and high-ranking appointed officials, which is a requirement for the bank to have under BSP regulations.
"Maintaining a PEP list is a standard element of an effective anti-money-laundering compliance program in accordance with international best practices," the BSP said.
The central bank said Leal only asked for PSBank's PEP list and saw that Corona was not tagged as a PEP.
Under international anti-money-laundering regulations, the bank accounts of PEPs such as politicians, as well as their families, require heightened scrutiny.
Tougher regulations are enforced bank accounts of PEPs because they are considered more "high risk" when it comes to the threat of money laundering.
The BSP said Leal also found out that other PSBank clients were not tagged as PEPs after he compared the list that bank gave him with the transaction reports that PSBank submitted to the AMLC.
The central bank's report following its examination of PSBank stated that the bank's PEP list was not comprehensive.
"PSBank was therefore directed to strengthen its compliance with AMLA," the BSP said.
"We amphasize that discussion with BSP Examiner Jerry Leal and the PSBank Compliance Officer [Grace dela Cruz] concerning the Chief Justice was limited to the extent of validating PSBank's compliance with PEP tagging," the central bank said.
During the trial on Monday, Senator-judge Joker Arroyo said he found it “disturbing” that AMLC can be used for “political vendetta."
“Now it’s the Chief Justice. Tomorrow, if we offend Malacañang, if we don’t follow, they can proceed against us through information gathered by AMLC. It’s a disturbing thought,” Arroyo said.
No AMLC probe of Corona's accounts
Senator-judge Teofisto "TG" Guingona III told PSBank President Pascual Garcia that the AMLC denied to him in a phone call that it audited Philippine Savings Bank, contrary to an earlier statement made by Garcia before the impeachment court.
He also asked Garcia if he is aware that AMLC does not do regular audits of banks.
"It does not. It only visits a bank upon a court order [or] upon existence of a predicate crime," Guingona said. Among these are crimes such as kidnapping and drug trafficking.
He added that only the BSP is authorized to routinely examine banks.
"I did call AMLC. They categorically deny that they audited (PSBank)," he added.
Garcia, after checking PSBank's records, later told Senator-judge Bongbong Marcos that it was a BSP anti-money-laundering specialist and not the AMLC, which was involved in the regular examination of the bank.
He said the BSP examination by the anti-money-laundering specialist did not look into Corona's accounts or balances and only made recommendations regarding the bank's PEPs list.
Not from AMLC: prosecutors
Last week, prosecution panel spokesman Miro Quimbo denied that the documents came from the AMLC. He said they explored the possibility of getting AMLC's assistance, but noted that the council had very strict requirements before a bank account can be opened for scrutiny.
The AMLA authorizes the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to "inquire or examine any deposit or investment with any banking institution without court order in the course of a periodic or special examination." Amendments to the AMLA lowered the threshold for investigations into transactions from P4 million to P500,000.
The AMLC is composed of the BSP governor as Chairman and the commissioner of the Insurance Commission and the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission as members.
Rep. Rey Umali earlier said he got a copy of the document from a “small lady” on February 2. Quezon City Rep. Jorge Banal, on the other hand, said the documents on Corona's bank accounts were in an envelope that was left in the gate of his house last January 30.
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daang matuwid (road to perdition).
The bank secrecy law is clear on stating that foreign currency accounts (dollar accounts) could not be disclosed to anyone unless with the written consent of the depositor. but since corona earned the ire of the president, pnoy ordered the two branches of the government to dig up corona's bank accounts in order to black mail the latter. that is one credible thing that would justify or explain why ...the bank accounts of corona were exposed and fell into the hands of the prosecution.
the malacanan tenant is the one who ordered BSP and AMLC to investigate corona. to do that, BSP came up with a dept. circular that classified certain people as "PEP" or politically exposed personalities. this is all intended to give way to the witch hunt which the palace tenant orchestrated and to circumvent the law so he could get back at his perceived political foes. with the advent of such dept. circular, BSP and AMLC began a special witch hunt for PEPs who can be a subject for audits and whose accounts can be examined. this did not just put the banking industry in bad light but it has a big impact to the bank depositors. it sends a disturbing thought that this government could illegally order an investigation of the bank account(s) of anyone using BSP and AMLC's. the memo itself deeply encroach into the rights of our people. we can safely say that the law could not protect anyone who's a perceived political foe of the chief executive. the tendency of pnoy being a dictator is right in front of our doorsteps.
for the record, the two branches of the executive (BSP and AMLC) have no business investigating the accounts (dollar) of corona for two reasons. first, there is no court order to investigate the bank accounts of the chief justice. second, the law is clear in bank secrecy that all foreign currency deposits should be treated with utmost confidentiality unless with the written consent of depositor.
What the BSP and AMLC could not deny is that, they have examined the bank records of corona in PS Bank without a court order nor did they determine probable cause to start an investigation. one undeniable fact is that, the BSP auditors accompanied by certain Jerry Leal (anti-frau expert) have investigated the 1 million peso that corona won in a bank raffle. however, the million dollar question is this, why would BSP and AMLC would do a joint investigation involving the chief justice if there is no direct order from the tenant of malacanan? remember that this investigation on corona's accounts happened late last year while the president is berating the chief justice in many forums.
the tenant of the palace is hardly known to uphold, obey and defend the law. to make things worse, BSP and AMLC both vowed to execute the illegal orders of the boy from the stinky pasig river. take it from garcia, the man has more credibility than the man (?) in the palace.See More
Paanong kikita ang kumpanyang
Paanong kikita ang kumpanyang pag-aari ni Cristina Corona eh hindi nga kumita, nagsarapa nga ng 2003. Hay naku humanahanap talaga ng palusot si Chief Justice.
Dream on Gloria Arroyo,hindi
Dream on Gloria Arroyo,hindi maaacquit ang bff mong si Corona.Mabubulok kyo pareho sa kulungan
Dati yung condo, sabi niya
Dati yung condo, sabi niya galing sa kinita ng kumpanya ng misis niya. Ngayon naman yung pera niya sa bangko, galing din sa misis. Ano ba? Lagi mo na lang ginagamit misis sa pagsisinungaling mo Corona.
Hindi mapipigilan si Pnoy na
Hindi mapipigilan si Pnoy na magkomento hinggil sa takbo ng paglilitis ng kaso ng Chief Justice dahil hindi kasi sakop ng impeachment rules ang pagbabawal sa Presidente na magkomento sa isyu.
Sa palda daw ni Mrs. Cristina
Sa palda daw ni Mrs. Cristina Corona nagtatago itong si Chief Justice Corona dahil nahihirapan na itong ipaliwanag ang P36.7 milyon na sabay-sabay umanong winithdraw sa bangko. Baka naman sa panty ni misis niya, di sa palda. Hehehe!
Malapit na!!!hahahhah!!!
HISTORY OF THE TRUTH WHY??
Blog by: Gabby Rakbar aka "eheym"
#23 Silay St., Cotabato City
mob. # 0947456345 or 0947885234
Top 10 most corrupt countries in Asia
10. Macau
9. Taiwan
8. Malaysia
7. China
6. Korea
5. India
4. Vietnam
3. Thailand
2. Indonesia
And last but not the least, the most corrupted of them all is...
1. Philippines
where!!!!!
Ferdinand Marcos was not only the most corrupt Philippine president ever, but he ranks high on the "most corrupt national leader ever" list.
&
Detainee Gloria Macapagal Arroyo -who'se facing electoral sabotage & where billions & billions of fund was used during her administrations, as well as her husband, Jose Miguel arroyo, labeled as "face of deceit, corrupt, and greed". & now Mrs. Arroyo
replaced ...
PRESIDENT PNOY AQUINO 111 - a sincere, character-driven president who has high level of integrity, honesty, and loyalty. A president who oversees the welfare of his people and the betterment of the country. Someone who has full capacity, intellectually and morally, to lead a hot-bed-of-corruption country and bring to its glorious days..
& now....
Renato Corona - the first head of the Judiciary to be impeached in the philippine history..because of Betrayal of public trust & Culpable violation of the constitution and/or graft and corruption..
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK AQUINO ADMINISTRATION'S "WE" ARE BEHIND YOU..
MABUHAY PO KAYO!!!
PRAYER:
O, GOD May the truth will prevail & impunity not prevail. May those responsible be put aside and punished. May transparency prevail and ethics set the tune for this sad end of the year in a country so full of contrasts, God Bless Philippines AMEN.!!!
BSP denies it leaked Corona's accounts
So what now Senators Enrile, Estrada, and Marcos? PSBank President Pascual Garcia is running circles on you.Obviously he is smarter and intellectually quicker than these senators combined. The ball is back on PSBank court.
The cat is out of the bag, as
The cat is out of the bag, as the saying goes. So it really makes no difference anymore. By now, we all know about what kind of a man Corona is. He is a calculating, shameless liar and a cheat. He accepted an illegal midnight appointment in order to protect the notoriously corrupt Gloria. He tried to let the corrupt Gloria escape the country by issuing an almost instant TRO so that she could avoid prosecution, etc., etc., etc. Corona is a lost case. He should never be allowed to continue to be our CJ. He lacks the tact, the honesty, the integrity, the character and the demeanor of a CJ. In fact, Corona is the total opposite of these.
Who else?
In my opinion, CJ Corona leaked his own bank information and PSBank collaborated to his plan, in order to sabotage or derail prosecutors’ momentum to this impeachment trial. It’s not that easy to close an account when ordinary citizen closes his/her account from a bank. Customer has to go through the hoops from bank by filling up forms and show proper identifications/bank book. Then there is grace/waiting period (I think 14 days or shorter and not one day) before it can close customer account completely. So, did CJ Corona manage to close his three accounts in one day with millions of pesos in those accounts? How PSBank return his money cash or check? (I think bank will make a check to the amount of per account. Cash with millions of pesos will be impossible to provide in one day but could be possible if bank is collaborating.) Once the accounts had been closed, where did CJ Corona deposit the check(s) or cash to? (maybe, Another bank? Or did he hide it under their mattress?) Prosecutors need to trace all paperwork and the truth will be shown.