A financial investigator from the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) told a trial court under oath that Senator Leila de Lima was not involved in any suspicious transactions that would link her to the illegal drug trade, De Lima’s lawyer Boni Tacardon said in a statement on Friday, September 25.

AMLC financial investigator Artemio Baculi Jr testified in De Lima’s trial on Friday as a witness for the prosecution. De Lima faces 3 separate cases of alleged involvement in the illegal drug trade in connivance with high-profile drug convicts in the New Bilibid Prison.

Friday’s hearing at Branch 205 of the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court involved Criminal Case no. 17-166, in which De Lima is accused of extorting some P30 million and 4 vehicles from convict Peter Co, coursed through a certain Jose Adrian Dera, also tagged in the case.

“Baculi admitted that his investigation of people suspected to have been involved in the Bilibid drug trade showed that no money flowed from the bank accounts subject of his investigation, to either De Lima or her co-accused Jose Adrian Dera,” according to the statement De Lima’s office sent to reporters.

“Napaamin namin siya na sa kanyang financial investigation na ginawa ay hindi naman niya inimbestigahan si Senator De Lima at si Dera. In fact, wala siyang ipinakitang ebidensya man lang na magpapakita na mayroong sabwatan between Senator De Lima at yung mga taong inimbestigahan niya na sinasabi niyang involved sa drug dealing,” Tacardon said.

(We got [Baculi] to admit that in the financial investigation that he conducted, he did not investigate Senator De Lima and Dera. In fact, he didn’t even present any evidence to show there was connivance between Senator De Lima and those people he was investigating, whom he said were involved in drug dealing.)

“Doon din sa testimonya niya, inamin niya na walang nakasampang kaso laban kay Senator De Lima na may kinalaman sa money laundering o kaya sa tinawag na forfeiture cases nang dahil sa sinasabing sabwatan sa mga taong involved sa illegal drug trade sa loob ng Bilibid,” Tacardon added.

(In his testimony, he admitted that there were no pending cases against Senator De Lima that had to do with money laundering or so-called forfeiture cases owing to the supposed conspiracy with people involved in the illegal drug trade inside the Bilibid.)

Prosecution witness testimony ‘demolished’

De Lima’s lawyer said Baculi “demolished” the testimony of Co, another prosecution witness, and failed to show proof of Co’s connection with De Lima.

The Department of Justice (DOJ), De Lima’s accuser, had dismissed drug charges against Co and several other Bilibid convicts because they were to turn state witness against the opposition senator.

However, at De Lima’s trial, Co denied having been involved in drugs while he was in prison, Tacardon said. This contravened a claim made by then-Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II that the DOJ possessed an AMLC report alleging “billions of pesos in drug money” deposited in a bank account supposedly owned by the senator.

According to Tacardon, the prosecution insisted that Peter Co is a “drug lord” based on the AMLC’s testimony, but because they couldn’t get Co to admit being a “drug lord,” the prosecution presented another witness.

“Malinaw na walang maipakitang ebidensya ang prosekusyon na mag-uugnay kay Senator De Lima kay Peter Co. Lumalabas pa na ang mga testigo nila ay salungat ang testimonya sa isa’t isa. Lalo itong nagpapatunay sa pagiging inosente ni Senator De Lima sa mga paratang na ibinabato sa kanya,” Tacardon said.

(It’s clear that the prosecution is unable to present evidence to link Senator De Lima to Peter Co. It has also become apparent their witnesses’ testimonies contradict one another’s. This all the more proves Senator De Lima’s innocence of the accusations hurled against her.)

In November 2019, De Lima’s lawyers pressed the DOJ to present the alleged AMLC report during the court trial. At the time, Tacardon said the prosecution told the court that the AMLC report was “still a work in progress.”

“Either the AMLC report is being manufactured and tailor-made to suit the requirements of the prosecution, or the DOJ is simply engaged in a drawn-out fishing expedition, in the absence of any bank transaction documents proving that De Lima indeed received proceeds of the drug trade,” Tacardon said at the time.

Bail pleas still pending

Meanwhile, Judge Liezel Aquiatan of the Muntinlupa court has yet to rule on two bail requests from De Lima, according to Tacardon. The senator filed her first bail request in June, and the second one in August.

De Lima has been in detention at Camp Crame in Quezon City since February 2017, when taunts and threats from Duterte came to a head with the filing of a slew of illegal drug charges based on testimonies from incarcerated drug convicts.

Before then, De Lima led a Senate probe into killings in President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war, and previous killings in Davao City when Duterte was its mayor. As human rights chief years earlier, De Lima probed the so-called “Davao death squad” killings linked to Duterte, earning the would-be President’s ire.

On September 17, the Parliament of the European Union officially adopted a resolution calling for De Lima’s release from jail, and the dismissal of the “politically motivated” cases against her. – Rappler.com