The Court of Appeals (CA) has ordered the freezing of bank accounts and insurance policies held by individuals and corporations allegedly involved in anomalous flood control projects.
This develops following a petition filed by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) involving 135 bank accounts and 27 insurance policies. The freeze covers assets suspected to be proceeds or instruments of unlawful activity under the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA).
In its resolution, the CA said that the freeze was necessary to prevent the dissipation, removal, or disposal of the subject accounts and other related assets while the investigations continue.
The insurance policies frozen include variable unit-linked (VUL) products and traditional life insurance policies, which, according to the AMLC, may have been used to launder illicit funds.
In the Philippines, insurers said fraudsters use variable unit-linked (VUL) or other investment-linked life products to move, layer and obscure fund source, by repeatedly switching or surrendering policies through nominees, for example.
Others use their relatives, nominees or even shell companies as policy beneficiaries to hide the true owners of the asset, insurers explained.
“Following the issuance of the freeze order, the AMLC will intensify its investigation to determine the full extent of the laundering activities and identify all parties involved,” said AMLC executive director Atty Matthew M. David.
This decision underscores the growing role of the insurance sector in anti-money laundering enforcement, reinforcing regulatory expectations on insurers to detect and report suspicious transactions.
It also highlights the policy trend of financial regulators increasingly targeting non-bank financial products in corruption-linked asset tracing, insurers said.
