THE currency straps used to bundle the 50-million-pesos worth of 1,000-peso bills in the Jack Lam bribery case are key to identifying the bank account from which the money was withdrawn for the purpose of asset sequestration, Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel said Sunday.
Jack Lam, a Chinese gaming tycoon, is accused of bribery and economic sabotage after he allegedly attempted to offer money to Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II in connection with the arrest of over 1,300 Chinese nationals illegally working at his Fontana Leisure Parks and Casino in Pampanga.
“When Justice Secretary Aguirre II presented the P50 million to the media, the money appeared to be bunched in the currency straps of a leading bank,” Pimentel, chairman of the House committee on good government and public accountability, said in a statement.
“Starting from the currency straps, it should be fairly easy to ascertain from which bank account the money came from. And an inquiry into a single bank account may be enough to lead to multiple bank accounts elsewhere.”
A currency strap or bill band is a simple paper contraption used to put together a specific number of banknotes of the same denomination to facilitate tallying.
Pimentel said he was counting on the Anti-Money Laundering Council “to follow the money and act fast in complying with President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to freeze and confiscate Lam’s financial and other assets in the country.”
Duterte earlier said he wanted all of Lam’s holdings seized for tax fraud on account of the illegal online betting activities that the Macau-based gaming mogul ran at the Clark Freeport Zone in Angeles City.
“We have not been able to determine how much we lost [from Lam’s illegal online gaming activities.… I am sequestering his properties and maybe I can get as much as I want,” Duterte said.
Lam, who has apparently fled the country, is now facing charges of bribery and economic sabotage.
Pimentel said cases of “bribery or dereliction of duty of public officials” could provide the AMLC the basis to obtain a court order to freeze Lam’s bank accounts, including the source of the P50 million.
For taking the P50 million, sacked Immigration deputy commissioners Al Argosino and Michael Robles are now under investigation by the Senate blue ribbon committee.
The two took the P50 million that was delivered by Lam’s “fixer,” retired police Chief Supt. Wally Sombrero.
The money was allegedly meant to buy the freedom of the more than 1,316 undocumented Chinese nationals previously apprehended by Immigration for illegally working at Lam’s gaming hub.