THE Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) has secured freeze order from the Court of Appeals covering more than 100 financial accounts and virtual asset wallets linked to a prominent lawmaker, a corporation, and several individuals and entities implicated in anomalous flood control projects.
In a statement dated Oct. 1, the council said the court issued the Freeze Order in a resolution dated Sept. 21 after finding probable cause that the assets fall under the Plunder Law, or Republic Act 7080.
The order covers 86 bank accounts, four investment accounts, one insurance policy and 25 virtual asset wallets.
The AMLC said its investigation revealed that the individuals involved did not have the revenues to support the scale of their investments.
Funds associated with the investments were also moved through multiple layers involving individual intermediaries, corporations, bank accounts, a money service business and a virtual asset platform, according to the council.
The AMLC said it traced the transactions to funds allegedly associated with corruption and plunder cases involving the lawmaker, who it did not name.
“The use of multiple recipients and financial channels complicated the tracing of the funds and increased their transactional distance from their alleged source,” the AMLC said.
The council also highlighted the use of virtual assets in the transactions, saying it demonstrated how emerging financial channels can be used to add layers to transactions and make the movement of suspected illicit funds more difficult to trace.
The latest freeze order is part of the AMLC’s continuing financial investigation into alleged anomalies involving government flood control projects and a broader budget kickback scheme.
The council said it will continue working with partner agencies and financial service providers to identify, trace, restrain and recover suspected illicit assets, as well as prevent the misuse of traditional and emerging financial channels for corruption, money laundering and other unlawful activities.
In August, the AMLC secured another freeze order covering assets of a lawmaker, a construction company linked to the legislator and other associated individuals in connection with government contracts. That order covered 55 bank accounts and four insurance policies.
