PNS — THE Anti-Money Laundering Council yesterday filed charges of money laundering against former Inda-nan, Sulu Mayor Alvarez Isnaji and his son, Haider, for allegedly pocketing P3 million out of the P20 million alleged ransom money paid by the family of ABS-CBN newscaster Ces Drilon.
The father and son were earlier acquitted on kidnapping charges in connection with the celebrated 2008 kidnapping of Drilon and her two crewmen in Sulu.
In a complaint, AMLC representatives Richard Da-vid Funk II and Monico Villar, Jr. said they found enough evidence to file the charges against the Isnajis. The pie-ces of evidence gathered by AMLC include the Isnajis’ bank transactions.
The council made several bank inquiries and found that the Isnajis made a series of significant bank transactions, deposits and withdrawals, after acting as negotiators for the release of Drilon and her men.
In its complaint, the AMLC noted that on June 13, 2008 , or a day after the initial P5 million ransom was paid by Drilon’s brother Frank, former mayor Isnaji made a deposit of P900,000 to savings account no. 5145076295 at the Philippine National Bank-Climaco Branch in Zamboanga City . He subsequently withdrew the same amount through the automated teller machine (ATM) from June 6 to November 6, 2008
Also from January 23, 2009 until May 28, 2009 , three deposits totaling P520,100 were made to his account. Isnaji again withdrew from the account on separate occasions until the balance was only P3,836.96.
AMLC said Haider opened his own account with PNP-Climaco Branch on April 20, 2007 with an initial deposit of P10,000.
However, on June 13, 2008 , also a day after the initial P5 million ransom was paid, Haider made a deposit of P20,000 to his account. Also from July 2, 2008 until February 13, 2009, Haider made 26 deposits in the total amount of P570,500.