A total of 264 money laundering cases had been brought before the trial courts since 2021 with 185 of them filed in 2024, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Monday, Feb. 24.
Of the 794 persons accused in the cases, the DOJ said that six of them had been convicted of 114 counts of terrorism financing (TF) charges.
In a statement, the DO said that “a total of 13,799 money laundering investigations were conducted from 2021 to 2024 with 5,821 investigations in 2024 alone which was more than doubled in 2021-2022.”
It also said there were 1,816 terrorism TF investigations that were conducted from 2020 to 2024.
“The DOJ has made 71 arrests in connection with TF activities and 237 TF prosecutions have been initiated,” it added.
The DOJ said the money laundering cases from 2021 were filed through the Financial Investigation and Litigation Enhancement and Prosecution Support Center (FILEPSC).
“These milestones serve as a powerful reminder that justice can be attained through perseverance, commitment and unity,” said Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla.
“This accolade fuels our relentless pursuit for justice and vow that we will never hold back from our duties until we completely eradicate these two evils of society: money laundering and terrorism financing," he added.
The DOJ cited the data following the announcement that the Philippines has been removed from the “grey list” of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), global anti-money laundering watchdog.
Earlier, the DOJ had welcomed the removal of the Philippines from the FATF's “grey list.”
“The removal of the Philippines from the said list means that it has completed its 18-point Action Plan against money laundering and terrorism financing so it will no longer be subject to the FATF’s increased monitoring processes,” it said.
The FATF described the "grey list" as a registry of countries under strict monitoring for having a high volume of money laundering and terrorism financing incidents.