PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has gone further as he gave more details about the purported offshore bank accounts of his staunch critic, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.
In an exclusive interview with broadcast journalist Erwin Tulfo aired Friday night on state-run PTV4, Duterte claimed that Trillanes, along with his alleged dummies, has several bank accounts in Shanghai, China; Zurich and Geneva in Switzerland; and Singapore.
The President alleged that Trillanes amassed the money in his bank accounts overseas when he was leading a backchannel dialogue with China over South China Sea disputes.
"The secret there is Trillanes' money is spread all throughout the planet. And in his bank accounts, he has partners," the President said.
"So even if he waives everything there, his co-partners for every bank are Chinese nationals. If they do not sign a waiver, then you cannot open the account. You can't really open it. And I am sure that his joint partners are dummies," he added.
Duterte made the revelation after Trillanes signed waivers for 12 alleged bank accounts on September 11.
The President said the senator had online savings accounts with ANZ and ABN AMRO banks in Shanghai, China that are both flagged as "having international transactions."
Duterte further said that Trillanes owned four savings accounts in Cayman Islands and another four accounts in British Virgin Islands.
"Balances of these accounts are below 700, whereby most of the accounts are with the USD 100,000 to 300,000 range to avoid detection in terms of large amounts of money," he said.
Duterte also claimed that he was able to obtain "existing slips" as evidence before Trillanes closed his bank accounts in Zurich, Switzerland and Singapore.
He said Trillanes had a balance of $75,000 or P3,801,385.05 in Zurich UBS bank account number 927519921320.
Duterte also said that Trillanes' money in Singapore DBS bank account number 178000296012 amounted to a total of 193,000. He, however, failed to mention the particular currency.
He noted that the owner of bank accounts in Zurich and Singapore was Antonio Fuentes Trillanes, which he said is the "complete name" of the senator, according to a copy of documents he received.
"There are many Antonio Trillanes -- the 3rd, the 2nd, and Antonio Trillanes Jr. He might say, 'That's not mine.' Because what was signed was just under the name of Antonio Trillanes. He could say, 'That's not mine because there are many Antonio Trillanes in other areas," he said.
"Maybe this is the reason why he is willing to sign a bank waiver. Because no four or number four in the name of Antonio Trillanes. But the date of birth and account owner has been confirmed [as his]," he added. (VoxPop Philippines)
