Binay: AMLC report is ‘one-sided’

Vice President Jejomar ‘Jojo’ Binay (Facebook photo)

MANILA — Vice President Jejomar Binay said his camp was not given the chance to explain the “one-sided” report of the Anti-Money-Laundering Council (AMLC).

“One sided lamang ang nasabing report at hindi kami binigyan ng pagkakataong makapagpaliwanag. Uulitin ko ang sinabi ko kahapon: The AMLC is wrong. Maling-mali ang AMLC,” Binay said at the 36th National Conference of Employers on Friday.

(The said report is one-sided and we were not given the chance to explain. I will repeat what I said yesterday: the Amlac is wrong. Amlac is truly mistaken.)

The statement came after the Court of Appeals decided to issue a freeze order on Binay’s bank accounts.

Binay also denied that he has numerous bank accounts like what the AMLC report is suggesting.

“Nalaman niyo sa media na ako daw ay may 242 bank accounts. Tinalo ko pa si Bill Gates at Warren Buffet at hindi ko alam na may ganitong karaming bangko sa Pilipinas,” he said.

(You’ve heard from media reports that I have 242 bank accounts. Am I richer than Bill Gates and Warren Buffet and am I not aware that there are that many banks in the Philippines?)

He also called the report as a product of the “whimsical use of regulatory powers”

“Let us all hope this whimsical use of regulatory powers is stopped sooner than later. It creates a chilling effect on confidence in business and banking system that is detrimental to our economy and development,” the Vice President said.

Binay also talked about the possibility of the AMLC’s report to have been leaked to other parties “even as he himself has not yet received a copy.”

“Now that I have referred to you as dear friends, I hope you will not get an instant invitation from the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee to prove you are not my dummies, and your companies, not my dummy corporations,” he said.

“It is also my prayer your bank accounts will not be subjected by AMLC to a freeze order solely on the basis of our friendship and association, or the fact that you are in the same room as Jojo Binay,” he added.