(Eagle News) — Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said that the government is already investigating alleged offshore bank accounts of certain “mostly yellow” or opposition personalities in Switzerland, Malaysia and other countries.
“I’m sorry, I could not tell you but many in the opposition… we have dug these bank accounts of opposition personalities,” Aguirre said.
“This is an ongoing investigation,” he stressed to reporters.
Aguirre did not provide more details, but said that the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) was the government agency which would deal with the foreign banks holding the alleged offshore deposits of opposition personalities.
As this developed, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV insisted he has no offshore bank accounts.
In a privilege speech at the Senate on Tuesday, the opposition senator claimed that he had gone personally to DBS Bank in Singapore, accompanied by reporters, so they can see and hear for themselves that he has no deposits in the said bank.
President Rodrigo Duterte had earlier claimed that Trillanes had several offshore bank accounts, including those in Singapore.
Meanwhile, Trillanes named the alleged source of the President’s information on his bank accounts as a certain Daniel “Snooky” Cruz.
Describing Cruz, Trillanes said this man claimed to be “well-connected” with the United States embassy.
“Ito pong taong ito ay nagpapanggap na well-connected sa US embassy, dating federal agent at kaya niya magkaroon ng access sa kahit anong bank accounts sa buong mundo,” he said
Trillanes insisted Cruz was the alleged source of information of the President on his (Trillanes’) offshore bank accounts.
The senator claimed certain members of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) provided him this information on Cruz.