THE camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay said Sunday he will deny today the Anti-Money Laundering Council’s allegations over his alleged bank assets during the first hearing of the case in a court in Manila.
Binay’s spokesman Rico Quicho said the vice president’s opponents would not stop harassing him and his family.
After claiming earlier that Binay had billions deposited in 242 accounts, Quicho said, the AMLC was now asking the Manila court to freeze only one account with a deposit of P1.7 million, an admission that it had no solid evidence against Binay.
“This is a clear abuse of the power of the AMLC with the sole intention of destroying an opponent of the Aquino administration,” Quicho said.
He said the AMLC’s latest petition was a blatant violation of Republic Act 1379, which prohibits the filing of civil forfeiture cases against public officials “within one year before any general election or within three months before any special election.”
He said the prohibition was explicitly provided for by law to deter political harassment.
“Aside from the absence of basis and evidence, Binay has long been saying that government agencies are being used against him through demolition by perception,” Quicho said.
“Included here is the suspension of his son, Makati Mayor Junjun Binay, who was cleared by the Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court also sided with him.”
The AMLC had filed a petition for civil forfeiture on Nov. 12 against the vice president, Makati Mayor Junjun Binay, and 62 other individuals and corporations.
The petition came a day after the lapse of the original six-month freeze order on the Binays’ assets that was filed on May 11.
Quicho said AMLC had allowed itself to be part of the demolition team formed to discredit Binay and prevent him from continuing his fight for the poor Filipinos being ignored by the Aquino administration.
“It is about time to revisit the mandate of AMLC and audit its performance since it has obviously allowed itself to be tainted with grossly erroneous and highly partisan activities,” Quicho said.
“The vice president will remain steadfast in protecting his name and that of his family from the malicious overtures by the AMLC and other government institutions.”