By Pia Ranada From Rappler

The entity providing Duterte with information suggests focusing his investigation on supposed Zurich and Singapore accounts of the senator

MANILA, Philippines – During a television interview, President Rodrigo Duterte read out details of supposed offshore bank accounts of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.

The interview aired on state-run PTV on Friday night, September 15, but was taped on Thursday.

Duterte appeared to read from a document with information obtained by “another country.”

The document states that aside from accounts in Malaysia, Australia, United States, and Hong Kong, Trillanes has accounts in Shanghai, Zurich and Geneva in Switzerland, Singapore, the Cayman Islands, and the British Virgin Islands.

“He has an online savings accounts with ANZ – ANZ Bank and ABN. AMRO, Shanghai. All foreign accounts of Trillanes are flagged as having international transactions,” Duterte said, reading from the document.

Trillanes supposedly has 4 accounts each in Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands, some of which were opened online.

“Balances of these accounts are below 700, whereby most of the accounts are within the USD 100,000 – 300,000 range to avoid detection in terms of large amounts of money,” continued Duterte, still reading the document.

The entity that provided him with the information even “suggested” that Duterte’s investigation “focus” on the Zurich and Singapore accounts “since all of these are single bank accounts without co-depositors.”

Duterte had previously pointed out that bank secrecy waivers will not work on joint accounts in which the partner does not also sign a waiver.

“The US bank account number 927519921320 in Zurich has a balance of $75,000 or Philippine 3,801,385.05. The DBS account number 178000296012 in Singapore has a balance of 193,000,” read Duterte.

Documents pertaining to these accounts show that the account owner goes by the name “Antonio F. Trillanes.” The senator’s middle name is “Fuentes.”

However, the report also said Trillanes, “when pushed to the wall,” typically claims these accounts are owned by other people named Antonio Trillanes. The account names lack the suffix “IV.”

But Duterte claimed the birth date of the account owner confirms it is Trillanes.

“Maybe this is the reason why he is willing to sign a bank waiver. Because no IV or number IV in the name of Antonio Trillanes. But the date of birth and account owner has been confirmed,” said the President.

In the same interview, Duterte claimed Trillanes accumulated wealth during visits to China when he served as the Philippine govermment’s backdoor negotiator during the Panatag (Scarborough Shoal) stand-off. – Rappler.com

IMAGE:

ALLEGATIONS. President Duterte reads out bank account numbers and other details of supposed offshore accounts of his critic, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV. Photo by Lito Boras/Rappler.com

For more on this story go to: https://www.rappler.com/nation/182306-duterte-bank-accounts-trillanes-details