Lacson seeks relaxation of bank secrecy law

Lacson wants to exclude gov't officials facing investigations from availing of the Bank Secrecy Law protections

From the tribune:

Lacson seeks relaxation of bank secrecy law

07/02/2007

As he braces for reinvestigation of the Jose Pidal controversy, opposition Sen. Panfilo Lac son is also out to bat for relaxation of the country’s bank secrecy law that will leave no room for excuses on the part of government officials suspected of amassing questionable wealth to withhold any information on their supposed hoard.

Lacson over the weekend said he again will seek approval of his proposal initially filed in the just-concluded 13th Congress, along with several other previously proposed measures that were not acted upon by his colleagues.

In moving to revisit the bank secrecy law, he said he will call for the exclusion of all government employees — from top bureaucrats down to messengers — from the protection that the law affords those suspected of stashing ill-gotten wealth.

The senator added this second look at the law will plug the holes in graft investigations involving people in government posts.

“This bill is basically premised on the principle that a public office is a public trust. I already filed such bill in the 12th and 13th Congresses, but it never got past the first reading. It never even merited committee hearings. But it is a measure worth refiling because once you enter government service, as President or clerk or even a janitor, you should not hide behind the provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act,” Lacson said.

He added fellow senator-elect Antonio Trillanes IV plans to file a similar bill.

Under Lacson’s version of the proposed measure, government officials facing investigation are excluded from the protection of the Bank Secrecy Act to allow probers to look into their bank accounts for any signs of graft.

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