QC court jails insurgent financer

The Department of Justice (DoJ) on Friday revealed that a Quezon City court has convicted a 32-year-old woman and sentenced her to up to 20 years in prison for her role in the financing network of extremist groups in Southeast Asia.

Reports said that the suspect — identified as Myrna Ajijul Mabanza, the wife of Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Anas, also known as Muhajirin — was found guilty on 13 counts as an accessory to violations of Republic Act 10168, the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012.

The conviction followed a financial investigation by the Anti-Money Laundering Council Secretariat.

She was sentenced to a penalty of up to one year and seven months imprisonment for each of the 13 counts, to be served consecutively.

The court also ordered Mabanza to pay a fine of P100,000 per offense, totaling P1.3 million with subsidiary imprisonment in case of failure to pay.

To recall, Mabanza was arrested in February last year and identified as a key financial conduit for terrorist organizations in the region.

“She had long operated behind the scenes, funneling funds and facilitating movements on behalf of ISIS-Philippines (ISIS-P) and the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG),” said the DoJ in a statement.

“In 2018, she was designated by the US Department of the Treasury as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist for her involvement in transferring substantial sums — including over US$100,000 — to then ISIS-P leader Isnilon Hapilon,” it added.