Solon reveals $2-M transfer to Cabinet’s ‘Million $ Man’

A pro-administration congressman revealed yesterday a $2-million transfer to the Hong Kong account of the "Million Dollar Man" in the Cabinet.

In a privileged speech, Rep. Willie Buyson Villarama (Aksyon Demokratiko, Bulacan) showed two documents detailing the money trail covering the transfer.

One document is a "payment detail report" of Trade and Commerce Bank in Uruguay, while the other is a payment or deposit instruction addressed to Chase Manhattan Bank in New York.

The payment detail report showed that Trade and Commerce Bank in Uruguay transferred $1,999,965 to Trade and Commerce Bank in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, which then moved the money to Chase Manhattan Bank in New York under the account of Coutts Bank (Schweiz) AG Hong Kong (Acct. No. $00-922932).

The report mentions the "beneficiary account" in Coutts Bank. It is Ho 13706. It is the same account specified in the other document.

The Trade and Commerce Bank document is dated Feb. 23, 2001, or about a month after President Arroyo took over the presidency from ousted President Joseph Estrada.

The huge transfer reportedly came from a former Estrada crony who was having, and continues to have, problems with the Arroyo administration.

Villarama, however, stopped short naming the "greedy" Cabinet member or his victim.

Sources said the Bulacan lawmaker, who was Mrs. Arroyo’s chief of staff when she was vice president, and his informant are in possession of more incriminating documents that could pin down the Cabinet official.

In his privileged speech, Villarama told his colleagues that he was forced to speak before them because he was challenged by Justice Secretary Hernando Perez to name names.

He said he mentioned no name when he urged Mrs. Arroyo to check on the "Multimillion Dollar Man" in her Cabinet.

"Now here comes the honorable secretary of justice feeling being alluded to, and perhaps out of pique, challenging this representation to name names.

"At first, my reaction to this dare was: ‘What’s in a name?’ However…with the documents now in my possession, I have come to the conclusion that the answer to this question is money – and lots of it," Villarama said.

He said the huge sum of nearly $2 million (about P100 million in 2001) came from "a businessman who was victimized, ripped off and extorted upon by the Multi-Million Dollar Man."

He revealed that the victim is willing to come out in the open and talk about the "abominable and bottomless greed" of the unnamed Cabinet official but that he wanted protection.

He said the victim is asking Perez to enroll him in the Witness Protection Program "which must guarantee him the continued warmth of his tongue — meaning that he will live through this ordeal which was not of his own making."