Atty. Mans Carpio, the husband of Vice President Sara Duterte, has officially filed a complaint before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office this Monday over the alleged illegal disclosure of records from the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) during the impeachment proceedings of Duterte.

Carpio claimed that the AMLC and members of the House Committee on Justice had violated provisions under the amended Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) which directed that all records obtained by the council be deemed confidential and protected from disclosure.

He noted that it was the congress itself that had passed such a condition to be included in the regulation, without any clear exemption warranting the disregard of its mandate.

“There is no exception. The prohibition is absolute. That is what Congress itself enacted to preserve full security against any disclosure of any information or record obtained by the AMLC,” the lawyer said.

A member of Carpio’s legal counsel, Atty. Peter Paul Danao, maintained that his client was being wrongfully included in the hearings of the Justice panel which were mainly focused on the evidence indicated in the two impeachment complaints against the Vice President.

Danao noted that their filing of complaint did not confirm nor deny that the figures presented by the AMLC were factual, stating that they were prepared to answer that question through proper legal process.

As for the claim that around P6.77 billion were covered under the bank transactions of Carpio and Duterte, he said that the former “vehemently denies” having such amounts.

Tied to the Numbers

On the other hand, Bicol Saro Rep. Terry Ridon claimed that Carpio’s filing of a complaint concerning the disclosure just affirmed that the numbers indicated in the reports were genuine.

“Pag nag-file si Atty. Carpio ng kanyang kaso ngayon, nakatali na ho siya doon sa mga numero. Eh kasi ang nirereklamo ho niya eh bakit niyo kasi dinisclose yung mga bagay na to, meron akong privacy dito,” Ridon said during a radio interview earlier today.

Meanwhile, Committee on Justice Chairperson Gerville Luistro expressed that the husband of the Vice President was merely exercising one of the options it may undertake as part of their legal defense.

Luistro maintained that their hearings had not violated any law, noting their meticulous approach in issuing its subpoena which mainly concerned only bank transactions rather than actual bank records.

“This is an impeachment case and therefore the totality of all the laws pertaining to transactions and bank records must be considered,” she said.

“The exemption provided in the bank secrecy law must be interpreted in such a way that it should cover any other confidentiality in other existing laws,” she added.

“Otherwise, no impeachment proceedings will be completed on the grounds of unexplained wealth.”