By Fel V. Maragay

Former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante yesterday admitted to having withdrawn funds from his bank accounts after the freeze order of the Court of Appeals expired last Dec. 20. He declined to say how much money he withdrew and from what bank.

Appearing anew before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee, Bolante rejected the senators? suggestion that he should waive his right to bank secrecy to disprove allegations that his bank accounts were used for laundering proceeds from the sale of fertilizer intended for beneficiaries of the department?s program.

?It?s not a question of whether I was hiding something. I just don?t want my bank accounts, a private matter, to be discussed in public. That is why I have invoked my right under the Bank Secrecy Law,? Bolante told the committee.

Anti-Money Laundering Council executive director Vicente Aquino said even after the freeze order had expired, the banks concerned should first secure an official confirmation and seek clearance from the council before they could process any withdrawal from the Bolante accounts.

Aquino said banks that would break this rule would be liable to a fine of Pl00,000 for every violation. He was rebuked by Senator Richard Gordon, committee chairman, for not informing the committee beforehand about the lapse of the freeze order and for not filing a motion with the CA for the extension of the order.

Last week, Aquino issued a press statement claiming that the Bolante accounts should be presumed intact despite the expiration of the freeze order in the absence of clearance from AMLC to allow withdrawals.

When asked by Senator Panfilo Lacson about the balance of 32 bank accounts linked to the fertilizer fund and under Bolante?s name, the AMLC official said only the banks are in a position to answer this.

Lacson sought clarification from the council on Bolante?s claim that of the 32 bank accounts, only four were actually his. But Aquino said he could not give any answer because such information is covered by the confidentiality provision of the implementing rules of the Anti-Money Laundering Act.

During the hearing, Jimmy Paule, who supposedly played a lead role in the fertilizer fund scam, denied he has had any dealings with the Department of Agriculture or that he had personally met or had any link with Bolante. He also insisted that he was not associated in anyway with any members of the First Family.

Agriculture Undersecretary for Finance Belinda Gonzalez told a previous committee hearing that Bolante was one of l2 persons who met with Bolante at the New World Hotel sometime in 2002. But Paule accused Gonzalez of lying.

Paule said that he has had business dealings with the Department of Public Works and Highways in the form of road contracts awarded to his construction firm, JP Builders.

He also denied that has had dealings with the Feshan Philippines, which supplied the liquid fertilizer for distribution to farmer-recipients.

But his attempt to wash his hands of the fertilizer fund mess was demolished by the testimonies of other witnesses which portrayed him as the one on top of the anomalous project.

Leonicia Llarena, owner of Publishing House Inc., said it was Paule who gave him a 10-percent commission for the P12 million worth of checked used for the fertilizer transaction through her account with the Land Bank of the Philippines.

Maritess Aytona repeated her testimony that Paule had hired her to be a consultant tasked with packaging the fertilizer project and coordinating with the DA and the local government units.

Aytona said it was Paule who directly talked with congressmen who were among the proponents of the fertilizer project in their respective districts.

Paule found himself in deeper trouble when Marilyn Araos admitted that she acted as signatory to a LandBank account for Feshan Philippines at the Elliptical Road branch, Quezon City even if she was not its employee upon the instruction of Paule.

Araos described herself as one of the agents or runners hired by Paule and she was assigned to Regions 3 and 4.

?Mr. Paule threatened to fire me if I would not agree to act as signatory for the bank account on. behalf of Feshan Philippines,? Araos said.

Araos? lawyer, Andrecito Fornier, tried to prevent her from continuing her testimony, pointing out that she had not taken her oath. But Gordon threatened to order Araos? arrest when she turned evasive upon questioning on the authenticity of a memorandum of agreement between Feshan and LandBank in which she was one of the signatories.

The inquiry took a strange twist when Julie Gregorio, president of Feshan Philippines, recanted her Dec. 22 testimony in which she claimed her company sold fertilizer to the Paule-Aytona group at P500 per bottle, that the landed cost was P465 per bottle and that she received P50 million as payment.

Gregorio said the actual selling price of the fertilizer was only P150 per bottle, as evidenced in the receipts for 22 deliveries for which Feshan was paid P13 million.