US agencies' help sought to recover fertilizer funds

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Manuel Roxas II has sought the assistance of various American government agencies to recover the P728-million fertilizer fund or parts of it believed deposited in bank accounts and assets of former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-Joc” Bolante in the United States.

In separate letters to three US agencies involved in finding illicit funds, Roxas asked “for an exhaustive and comprehensive financial investigation” on Bolante’s bank accounts and assets in the US in line with the principles of truth and accountability in public office.

He expressed confidence that the US authorities would not let such a serious crime go unchecked.

Roxas addressed this appeal for assistance to, among others, Undersecretary Stuart Levey of the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Department of Treasury; Director Mark Sullivan, Financial Crimes Division, Secret Service; and Acting Assistant Attorney-General Matthew Friedrich, Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, Criminal Division, Department of Justice.

He noted in the letters that although Bolante’s 32 known bank accounts had already been frozen, “there is strong probability that a substantial amount of the missing public fund has already been deposited to foreign banks or otherwise used to acquire assets in the United States.”

“I fear that the Filipino taxpayers’ money, which has been illegally diverted to other uses, will never be traced and recovered,” he said in the letters to the US agencies.

He said the P728 million in public funds should not just be lost.

Roxas noted that the Senate, on March 1, 2006, had already released its report citing Bolante as the “main architect” of the P728-million fertilizer fund scam, and recommended the filing of criminal charges against him.

The US Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit has already dismissed Bolante’s petition for asylum in the US, and a final ruling affirming this is being awaited.

Last Sept. 18, Roxas wrote US Ambassador Kristie Kenney requesting for her assistance in ensuring Bolante’s deportation directly to the Philippines once the US courts rule with finality against the asylum petition.