*STORY UPDATE*

The freeze orders of the Court of Appeals on the accounts of Julie Hao Gamboa, also known as Kimberly, has since been lifted.

Based on the documents provided recently by Ms. Gamboa, her bank branch notified her of the lifting of the frozen accounts on December 9, 10, and 13, 2021, citing the “written confirmation on the lifting of the freeze from the AMLC dated December 2, 2021”.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) served on Monday, Sept. 27, freeze orders on the bank and credit accounts, insurance policies, real properties and motor vehicles of two people who were accused of laundering drug money.

The orders was issued by the Fifth Division of the Court of Appeals against the assets of Julie Hao Gamboa, alias Kimberly and spouses Ruben and Teresita Taguba, according to PDEA Director General Wilkins Villanueva.

He said that the freeze order covers 173 bank and credit accounts, insurance policies, 17 properties and five motor vehicles of the suspects.

The case on Gamboa stemmed from an operation in March 22, 2019 when elements of the PDEA Intelligence and Investigation Service (IIS); PDEA Regional Office-National Capital Region (RO-NCR) and BOC (Bureau of Customs) intercepted a total of 276 kilograms of shabu worth P1.8 billion concealed in tea packs.

The shipment came from from Vietnam and arrived at the Manila International Container Port (MICP).

Two months later, PDEA filed a criminal complaint before the Department of Justice (DOJ) against Xu Zhi Jian, alias Jacky Co and 16 others for the importation of the P1.8 billion shabu shipment. The case was also referred by PDEA and BOC to the AMLC (Anti-Money Laundering Council) secretariat for investigation and possible filing of civil forfeiture and money laundering cases.

In a statement, PDEA disclosed that Xu Zhi Jian is the owner of the shipment that contained the P1.8B shabu shipment.It was revealed that Xu Zhi Jian has no registered businesses and properties under his name, and managed 70 bank accounts that transacted hundreds of millions of pesos from 2004 to 2019, including transactions with entities that are subject of separate drug-related civil forfeiture cases.

The agency noted that Julie Hao Gamboa was among the cohorts of Xu Zhi Jian in the smuggling of the 276 kilograms of shabu in MICP as she was suspected to be responsible for the illegal release of 105 containers from the Port of Manila in 2018.

Investigation pointed out that Gamboa has no registered business and maintains a total of 81 bank accounts in different banks that transacted millions of pesos aside from owning three properties and four registered motor vehicles.

On the other hand, Ruben Taguba was a former Custom Police Officer and father of Mark Taguba who was the subject of a separate investigation involving the shipment of 602 kilos of shabu confiscated from a warehouse in Valenzuela City in May 2017.

The older Taguba has 21 properties registered under his name and made hundreds of millions of pesos worth of bank transactions using 21 different bank accounts.

He was also found to be maintaining a joint account with Julie Hao Gamboa which received 108 fund transfers amounting to ?51,142,157.71 from the latter’s personal account.

“The posting of preservation orders on the two properties sends a strong message to potential drug money launderers that despite the challenges brought about by the pandemic, the PDEA, AMLC and BOC continue to intensify efforts against personalities belonging to the upper echelon of the drug trade,” Villanueva said.

“We will be closely working together to track down the trail of drug money, arrest and forfeit the assets of drug money launderers,” he added. (Chito A. Chavez)

by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), and the Bureau of Customs (BOC).