Who’s in the deep freeze?

Somewhere in the House of Representatives, a very prominent lawmaker is having a very cold week, Nosy Tarsee learned from state investigators.

On 21 September, the Court of Appeals found probable cause in a pile of assets tied to plunder under Republic Act 7080. It ordered them frozen. The count is 86 bank accounts, four investment accounts, one insurance policy, and 25 virtual asset wallets.

Those wallets matter. The accounts belong to the lawmaker, an unnamed corporation, and several associates. The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) will not say who. The court will not say either. Confidentiality rules, we are told. So the name stays in the drawer, and the guessing game is open to anyone with a calculator and a copy of his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth.

Here is what the AMLC did say. The people involved have no operating revenue to support investments of this scale. The money moved through intermediaries, corporations, bank accounts, a money service, and a virtual asset platform. Layer on layer. The council says that is how budget kickbacks are dressed up to look like income.

Crypto is the newest layer. Wallets add another step between the money and its source, and another step is what a launderer pays for. The council noted the growing use of financial technology in suspicious transactions. That is a polite way of saying the hiding places have moved from the mattress to the blockchain.

One caution though, because Nosy Tarsee prefers its gossip served accurate.

Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said earlier that his office was preparing a freeze order against the high-profile official, who was also named in the flood control mess. That person has flatly denied any involvement. Nobody has said the two matters are the same. Do not assume they are. Nobody has been convicted of anything, and a freeze order is not a verdict.

But it is not nothing either. Judges do not freeze 116 accounts and wallets on a hunch.

So the questions pile up. Who is “prominent”? Does the corporation have a name, and does the name appear on a government contract? And how long does an anonymous lawmaker stay anonymous once the AMLC files its next petition?

Some in Congress might want to check their wallets, the digital kind, too.