The Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking has asked the Anti-Money Laundering Council to investigate reports about an Australian bank that allegedly allows its customers to send money to child pornographers in Southeast Asia including the Philippines.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, who chairs the IACAT, has stressed that once there is sufficient basis, the council will refer the matter to the National Bureau of Investigation for a thorough investigation.
“IACAT is coordinating with AMLC on this matter,” Guevarra said in a text message.
According to Guevarra, the AMLC has been directly coordinating with its counterpart-Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre following an entrapment operation last month where authorities discovered that an Australian national was involved in online sexual exploitation of Filipino children.
“In the ensuing coordination between the Philippine and Australian Police, it was discovered that Westpac [Australian bank] was also informed,” the IACAT chair said, admitting it was actually AUSTRAC who uncovered Westpac’s involvement.
The entrapment operation Guevarra was referring to was conducted in Rizal last month where a 45-year-old woman had allegedly been live-streaming her 12-year-old daughter posing in sexual positions to customers abroad in exchange for cash she receives through money transfer.
Investigation showed that one of the customers was an Australian national.
Reports say that Westpac’s CEO Brian Hartzer has stopped following allegations of failing to report international fund transfers including payments to child pornographers in Southeast Asia.