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Trillanes to sign waiver on ‘foreign bank accounts’
FILE: Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said he would immediately issue a bank secrecy waiver for all the foreign bank accounts that he allegedly owned to prove President Rodrigo Duterte’s allegation wrong.
(Photo by Alex Nuevaespaña via Senate of the Philippines/Facebook)
Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said he would immediately issue a bank secrecy waiver for all the foreign bank accounts that he allegedly owned to prove President Rodrigo Duterte’s allegation wrong.
Trillanes on Sunday denied the accusation of having undeclared bank accounts abroad, stating that he would present to the media on Monday the waiver which would allow the Office of Ombudsman and the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to take a peek into the alleged sixteen foreign accounts belonged to him.
“Sinabi ko ni isa wala akong offshore bank account kaya nga ang waiver ang magbibigay sa kanila [ng authority] to look into [the] accounts. Ang total na inilabas nila 16 fake accounts kaya gagawa ako ng waiver sa lahat ng account na ‘yun [I ‘m saying that I don’t even have one offshore bank account that’s why I’m giving the waiver that will allow them to look into the accounts. They have released a total of 16 fake accounts that’s why I’m issuing a waiver for all of those],” Trillanes said in a radio interview with dzBB on Sunday.
The senator added that he would even accompany the fact-finding team of the Ombudsman along with the media to the banks to prove that he there are no bank accounts under his name.
During his speech in the 26th Mindanao Business Conference held in Cagayan De Oro City, Duterte said that he has acquired documents on the senators’ bank accounts and it would be coming out with them in the next few days.
Duterte claimed that Trillanes has been keeping joint accounts with Chinese businessmen—whom he did not identified—in Hong Kong, Australia, and the United States. The businessman is reportedly involved in trucking and has a business address in Metro Manila.
On the other hand, Trillanes made the accusation against Duterte and his family during the 2016 campaign for obtaining billions of pesos in secret bank accounts. In a senate hearing on September 7, the senator also accused Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte and presidential son-in-law Manases Carpio of having millions of pesos in bank accounts. They all refused to sign a bank secrecy waiver.
On the contrary of what they did, the senator stressed that he would submit a notarized waiver to the Ombudsman and the AMLC to permit inspection in his bank accounts.
“Ipapakita ko ‘yung waiver, duly received, duly notarized para maipakita na wala akong itinatago at palalabasin ko kung gaano kasinungaling ang administrasyong ito [I will present the waiver, duly received, duly notarized to show that I am not hiding anything and I will prove how big of a liar this administration is], Trillanes said.
The senator added that aside from the waiver, he would also ask for bank statements if there are any. If there are none, he would ask for certification which will prove that he doesn’t acquire any bank accounts there and will slap it on the President’s face.
The senator will hold a press conference once the waivers are officially received by the Ombudsman and AMLC today.
According to Trillanes, he will do everything to prove his innocence from all the accusations of Duterte and that he is willing to go through this far only to prove that the President is a liar and “he is using the power of the government to malign and harass a member of the political opposition.”
