Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez has ordered the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to coordinate with the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) in investigating the alleged entry of millions worth of foreign currencies in the country.
The move followed the revelation of BOC Commissioner Rey Guerrero on alleged syndicates bringing huge amounts in US dollars and other foreign currencies into the country.
Guerrero claimed that USD 370 million or Php 18.74 billion were brought into the country by syndicates last year.
BOC Spokesperson Vincent Philip Maronilla said that there is an ongoing investigation and operations against these groups, the two biggest of which are the so-called Rodriguez and Chinese groups.
The Bureau discovered the modus operandi of the Rodriguez group in which large sums of money have been deposited to Excellent Forex, Inc. from July, 2019 until January this year. Couriers make two to three trips weekly and are paid Php 12,000 to Php 50, 000 per flight. They manage to dodge detection through police escorts.
“Hanggat hindi napapatunayang may involvement siya direct to any crime that can be connected to anti-money laundering, ina-allow lang natin. Kung baga, idedeclare mo lang samin, ireport namin sa AMLC. ‘Yung AMLC will just profile. (Unless his direct involvement to any crime connected to anti-money laundering is proven, this will just be allowed. The (amount) will be declared with us, we report it to the AMLC and the AMLC will just do a profile.) So maybe there should be policy changes in terms of how to treat these particular excess foreign currencies,” Maronilla suggested.
Meanwhile, the BOC confirmed the initial information of Blue Ribbon Chair Sen. Richard Gordon that Chinese visitors have been bringing in large amounts of money possibly being used in criminal activities.
The Senate is set to hear anomalies in the increasing number of Chinese nationals entering the country, following reported cases of prostitution, kidnapping, and corruption in POGO sites and at the Bureau of Immigration (BI). – Report from Mark Fetalco
