MANILA, Philippines - House Justice Committee chairman and Batangas 2nd District Rep. Gerville Luistro said that they acknowledge the filing of criminal complaints against her, several lawmakers and officials of the Anti-Money Laundering Council by the husband of Vice President Sara Duterte. lawyer Manases Carpio, on Monday.
Carpio filed violations of Republic Act 9160 (Anti-Money Laundering Act), RA 1405 (Bank Secrecy Law), and RA 10173 (Data Privacy Act) for "disclosing and divulging to the general public the purported reports of banks to the AMLC concerning their account deposits, withdrawal, bank balances and related records without prior notice nor prior written consent.”
It comes after an AMLC report was released at the House Justice Panel's hearing last April 22 that showed more than P6 billion in transactions recorded by both Duterte and Carpio, which according to some lawmakers were considered as "smoking gun" evidence in the impeachment case.
In an interview over radio dzBB on Monday, Luistro believes that the case filed against them is "one of the options" made by the defense "to suppress the disclosure of this information,"
"This one is a criminal complaint.... we acknowledge that this is one of their options. As far as the committee is concerned, we maintain the position that we did not violate any law," Luistro added.