Duterte fan page “Solid and Loyal DuterteCayetano for Federalism” shared an article from a blog claiming that Senator Leila De Lima has confirmed that she deposited money to the bank account of her former driver and lover, Ronnie Dayan.
The news, which was published by a blog called ph-newsportal.blogspot.com, was accompanied by a video of Department of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre’s press briefing. However, Aguirre’s statements were completely in contrast with the headline.
If you watch all of 18 minutes and 46 seconds of the video, Aguirre’s premature investigation on the case of the deposit slips has found the denial of two of the witnesses, Jonathan “Jong” Caranto and Edna “Bogs” Obuyes, to be true.
This was after thorough cross-examination conducted by Aguirre himself and a polygraph test conducted by the NBI.
Aguirre even stated that the two exhibited the “mark of an honest witness” with their willingness to comply with the tests and to submit an affidavit.
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According to Aguirre, with his 44 years of experience as a practicing lawyer, he is able to identify when one is lying and believes that the two were stating the truth.
With the two’s denial of the accusations being identified as the truth, some of the deposit slips may now be discredited from the investigation.
Talking about the possibility of the deposit slips being discredited, Aguirre states: “Magtataka ka dun kung bakit palayaw ang gamit sa deposit slip. Yan ang mga mark na dapat mag-ingat ingat ka eh. So hindi ko rin nachecheck yung kung kailan dineposit baka kako yan eh may dineposit na Sabado o Linggo eh di patay na ako. Di ko pa nachecheck kasi sa dami ng trabaho dito, wala pa kong USec, wala pa kong ASec.”
To refresh everyone’s memory, we had reported in the past on how a netizen questioned Obuyes’ deposit slips exactly for the reason that the name used was a nickname which was not allowed by virtue of Section 9 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001 and that one of the deposit was done on April 18, 2014 which was Good Friday and was a non-banking day.
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Furthermore, when a reporter asked him whether the P88 million covered by the deposit slips were allegedly deposited into an account under Ronnie Dayan’s name, Aguirre replies: “No. Hindi, hindi. Walang pangalan si Ronnie dito. Kahit yung account hindi, wala. Iba-ibang pangalan. Account nung nagdeposit, sa account niya yan.”
When asked whether De Lima had an account, “Wala rin,” he said. Aguirre goes on to say, “I am telling the truth; kaya wala akong dapat ikatakot na the secretary (De Lima) will give me hell.”
Reporters compel him to fish out more details that will link De Lima because he disclosed that there were many; however, Aguirre opts to release a statement when the newly discovered information and evidences have been thoroughly investigated and examined.
Aguirre had been evading interviews because he said he “needed the time to check the evidences” and even held an interview with DZMM “precisely to say that the release was premature and not authorized by him. Also, Aguirre stated: “I’ve never said na itong dalawang si Caranto at tsaka si Obuyes ay nagdeposit ng millions sa account ni Ronnie [Dayan]. I’ve never said that.”
This is actually the first time this article surfaced. It was first shared by Duterte fan pages, such as “Rodrigo Duterte Lines,” in September.
In the same month, De Lima actually responded to Aguirre’s accusations by asking him to freeze her alleged dummy bank accounts after denying that she has no millions or billion in her bank accounts and that she has no dummy bank accounts in the first place.
On December 19, Aguirre said that the NBI has already received De Lima’s bank records from the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), as well as the bank records of those with alleged links to the Bilibid drug trade.
However, the blogspot’s claim about De Lima herself confirming that she deposited money into Dayan’s accounts is fake.
Sources: (manilatimes.net, rappler.com, news.abs-cbn.com)
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