AMLC flags VP Sara’s P6.7 billion bank transactions

MANILA, Philippines, April 23 ------ Bank accounts tied to Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband Manases Carpio had been repeatedly flagged for suspicious and covered transactions from 2006 to 2025 worth a total of P6.77 billion, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) revealed.

Testifying before the House committee on justice’s clarificatory hearing, as part of ongoing impeachment proceedings against Duterte, AMLC executive director Ronel Buenaventura confirmed that certain transactions had been flagged by the agency. “Yes, there are suspicious transactions and covered transactions in our system, database or record,” Buenaventura told the committee.

In a summary report, Buenaventura said the AMLC identified 313 covered transactions and 17 suspicious transactions in Duterte’s accounts, and 317 covered transactions and 16 suspicious transactions in her husband’s. The flagged transactions totaled P6.77 billion, broken down into P3.77 billion linked to Duterte’s accounts and P2.99 billion to Carpio’s. Buenaventura said the records showed an inflow of P1.83 billion into Duterte’s accounts and P2.59 billion into Carpio’s, or P4.43 billion in total deposits.

On the outflow side, he said P1.21 billion was withdrawn from Duterte’s accounts and P343.32 million from Carpio’s. The AMLC identified P791.1 million in transactions that could not be clearly determined based on available records. It also noted a marked increase in the historical trend of Duterte’s bank transactions, which surged to P208.15 million in 2007.

The volume further intensified between 2009 and 2013, with annual totals averaging over P400 million. Specific figures included P704.93 million in 2009 and P597.15 million in 2011, while 2010 recorded P648.58 million. Overall, the AMLC recorded a total of P3.92 billion across 417 transactions from 2005 to 2026, noting that financial activity tapered in the most recent years.

The bulk of the transactions involved credit memos amounting to P1.41 billion, debit memos at P1.03 billion, and fund transfers totaling P521.86 million. This was followed by time deposit pre-terminations of P218.74 million and miscellaneous transactions of P209.29 million. Other transactions identified included time deposit placements and payments amounting to P109.15 million each, withdrawals totaling P62.79 million and check deposits worth P48.33 million.

Commenting on the AMLC revelations, Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua said the bank transactions were not reflected in the Vice President’s statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs). Buenaventura explained that covered transactions refer to bank deposits of over P500,000 in a single day, which are automatically reported to the AMLC. Suspicious transactions, meanwhile, are those flagged by banks due to red flags or doubts over their legitimacy, including possible links to unlawful sources, regardless of the amount. He also cited Section 3 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, which defines suspicious transactions as those with no underlying legal or trade obligation, involving improperly identified clients, or amounts inconsistent with a client’s business or financial capacity.

Buenaventura added that suspicious transactions also cover transactions that appear structured, linked to unlawful activity or money laundering, show deviations from a client’s normal behavior or profile, or fall under any analogous circumstances indicating possible irregularity. The AMLC furnished the justice committee with two sets of documents: a report on covered transactions involving Duterte and her husband, and another on suspicious transactions from 2006 to 2025, as indicated in the subpoena. It also submitted financial intelligence and investigation reports.

When asked whether the reports were produced only in compliance with the subpoena, Buenaventura said the AMLC has been continuously monitoring transactions flagged by banks. He added that the agency merely generated its latest consolidated report, which still includes data it already had dating back to earlier years. “We do not choose personality. What we are looking at are the data and numbers. So, what we are looking for, more than the people behind, what is the movement, flow, frequency and flow of the money and if there are something unusual in the flow. We are running after the money, not the people behind the money,” Buenaventura said.

Source: philstar.com