NBI to push through with Lacson probe — Perez

Justice Secretary Hernando Perez said yesterday the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) will push through with the probe of Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s alleged dollar accounts in three banks in the United States even without any recommendation from the Senate.

"The Senate report, if we don’t get it because of the lack of necessary signatures, if we don’t get it before a period of one month, then I would ask the NBI and the (PNP) Criminal and Investigation Division Group to conduct the necessary investigation," he said.

Perez told The STAR in an interview the Department of Justice may no longer wait for the Senate’s recommendation in light of recent developments in the chamber.

"It’s not that material anyway," he said. "In fact, some of these cases have already been filed. This is a battle of evidence. I would rather rely on the evidence. I wouldn’t want to be drawn into a kantyawan with Senator Lacson."

Perez said a four-man panel of NBI experts is evaluating the two-inch thick report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to determine the extent of Lacson’s alleged accounts in Bank of America, Van Nuys and Wells Fargo.

"This (FBI report in Lacson’s dollar accounts) is now being analyzed by the NBI and as soon as they are finished, they will recommend the filing of charges," he said.

"The appropriate charges would be filed. And we reserve the right to comment because we might be called upon to decide the same that’s why we would not want to be drawn into a discussion into the probative value of the evidence."

On the other hand, NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco said Lacson’s wife, Alice has an "active account" in a bank in California, which contains a $246,000 transaction.

"One account even reached $1 million, while the others have as much as $700,000," he said.

Wycoco said Lacson did not declare these amounts in his statement of assets and liabilities he filed in 2001, in which he gave his net worth at P19.8 million.

Lacson is liable for perjury and for falsification of public documents for misdeclaring his assets, Perez and Wycoco said. –Delon Porcalla, Sandy Araneta