Former President Benigno Aquino III and six others face plunder and graft charges after getting involved with the alleged illegal shipment of US$141-billion worth of gold bars to Thailand.
The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) member, lawyer Fernando Perito, and former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) examiner Rogelio Cantoria filed the plunder and graft complaints against Aquino, former Department of Justice (DOJ) secretary and now Senator Leila de Lima, former Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary Manuel Roxas II, and Senator Franklin Drilon.
Current BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr., former Department of Finance (DOF) secretary Cesar Purisima, and Treasury Department chief leader Lorelei Fernandez were also included among those who were charged.
According to the complaints, the 3,500 metric tons (MT) of illegally shipped gold bars, which came from the BSP, were intercepted in the Union Bank of Switzerland.
It is said that Aquino, De Lima, Roxas, Tentangco, Drilon and Purisima approved the "certification of shipment" in December 2014.
Based on the alleged BSP circular, more or less 3,500 MT of gold bars were shipped and deposited in the Bank of Thailand. The gold bars weigh 12.5-kilograms per bar and have "purity" of 99.999 percent.
However, Cantoria and Perito argued that the said gold bars can still be recovered and returned to the BSP if went through the legal process.
The Centennial Energy Company of Thailand and the Philippine government, during the Aquino administration, approved the release of funds in exchange for the said gold bars, which will be used for “humanitarian projects.”
Source: Sun Star Manila
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