CICC: Flood control loot being laundered to crypto

MANILA, Philippines — Stolen flood control funds may have been converted into cryptocurrency in order to move the money offshore, the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordination Center said yesterday.

Renato Paraiso, CICC deputy executive director and newly appointed head of the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI)’s technical working group on asset recovery, said intelligence reports and recent recoveries suggest that individuals tied to the scheme are channeling large sums into USDT, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, through multiple intermediaries.

“We monitored several chatters asking for exorbitant amounts of USDT,” Paraiso told “Storycon” on One News.

He added that the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) has recovered some USDT after coordinating with an exchange that voluntarily froze a suspicious transaction.

Paraiso confirmed that investigators are looking at cryptocurrency movements potentially equivalent to $50 million to $100 million, or billions of pesos.

He said some suspects are using representatives and “nominal people” to convert cash into digital tokens.

According to Paraiso, many of the transactions occur through code wallets and offshore exchanges, making them difficult to trace.

“The most popular right now is USDT. They also use platforms like Binance and other exchanges,” he said.

Although Binance is banned in the Philippines, he noted that users can bypass restrictions using virtual private networks.

He said authorities began noticing unusual spikes in cryptocurrency activity in early October.

“Large one-time transactions of P50 million or bigger are the ones we detect when money laundering is happening,” he said.

The CICC is working with the AMLC, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and foreign partners to track transfers, request freezes and recover assets abroad through mutual legal assistance treaties and international anti-corruption conventions.

But Paraiso admitted that gaps remain, particularly in enforcing Philippine laws on platforms operating overseas.

“These are the challenges criminals exploit, jurisdictional and territorial restrictions,” he said.

He added that digital money laundering falls under cybercrime and coordination is ongoing with foreign law enforcement agencies, including the International Criminal Police Organization.

Paraiso said the interagency group on asset recovery has expanded its mandate to include case build-up. Agencies now coordinate daily and are developing a system for faster document requests.

“We are managing, but we can do better,” he said, noting the need for more personnel and technology. “The message is clear, we hear the Filipino people. We have to move faster.”

ICI YouTube channel

Meanwhile, the ICI launched its YouTube channel yesterday, allowing it to hold the inaugural livestream of its hearings with Laguna 4th District Rep. Benjamin Agarao Jr. in the hot seat.

The livestream also showed the testimony of Land Bank of the Philippines officials led by its president and CEO Lynette Ortiz.

ICI executive director Brian Keith Hosaka said Agarao and the Land Bank officials had all requested for an executive session – which was apparently declined given the livestreamed hearing.

Scheduled to appear today before the ICI as resource persons are Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo and Bulacan 1st district Rep. Danilo Domingo.

More anomalous projects

Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Markus Lacanilao has submitted a recommendation to the ICI to probe an alleged overpriced and non-operational Central Command Center (C3) infrastructure project where former Ako Bicol party-list representative Zaldy Co’s Sunwest Corp. was involved in as a joint venture partner in 2020.

At a press conference yesterday in the ICI office in Taguig, Lacanilao said they have turned over a recommendation letter as well as documents relating to the LTO C3 project undertaken by the joint venture of Sunwest Construction and Development Corp.,

Lacanilao said several stipulated features and functionalities of the project were missing.

“There were no cameras. The contract required them to put cameras all over the Philippines – this was not delivered. In fact, it is not working (as a command center). It is overpriced, there was even an overpayment of P26 million,” Lacanilao said.

Separately, the ACT Teachers party-list formally requested an ICI probe into alleged anomalous flood control projects in Davao City worth P4.4 billion.

ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio urged the commission to look into at least 80 flood control contracts from 2019 to 2022, all located along the Davao and Matina rivers in the city’s 1st district.

Davao 1st district Rep. Paolo Duterte is expected to appear before the ICI this week.