Freeze order should cover relatives

THE Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) should also freeze the bank accounts of relatives of politicians implicated in the multi-billion flood control scandal, a congressman said on Tuesday, amid the crackdown on corruption linked to infrastructure projects.

Lawmakers linked to allegedly anomalous flood control deals should also release their yearly net worth statements and sign a bank secrecy waiver to allow authorities to examine their financial records, House Deputy Minority Leader and Party-list Rep. Leila M. de Lima said.

“Include their relatives as well,” she said in a statement. “They all should be open to scrutiny of their bank accounts and transactions so we can truly find out if they have nothing to hide.”

The AMLC last week froze the bank accounts and insurance policies tied to 20 Public Works department officials and six contractors as the government widens its probe into anomalous flood control deals.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. in mid-September created a fact-finding commission into billions worth of bogus flood control deals, tasked to investigate irregularities in public works projects involving substandard, incomplete or nonexistent infrastructure.

In August, he said that more than 6,000 flood control projects launched since 2022 lacked key details. About P545 billion has been allocated for flood control since then, with P100 billion cornered by top contractors. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio