By Benjamin Cuaresma
Sen. Risa Hontiveros has raised new questions about P319.3 million in remittances received by Cale88 Foods Corp., saying some of the Chinese entities behind the transfers are state-owned enterprises linked to Beijing’s government and Communist Party apparatus.
Hontiveros presented the findings during Tuesday’s impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, whose husband, lawyer Manases “Mans” Carpio, was an incorporator, director and shareholder of Cale88.
Anti-Money Laundering Council Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura earlier testified that Cale88 received P319,326,770.41 from China and Hong Kong, including about P315.94 million from mainland China.
Three transactions involving the company were flagged as suspicious because they reportedly lacked an underlying legal or trade obligation, purpose or economic justification.
Hontiveros identified China National Township Enterprises and Beijing Jianweifang Food Co. among the companies she said were connected to Chinese state-owned enterprises.
She said China National Township Enterprises had been under China’s Ministry of Agriculture and later became a state-owned agricultural enterprise supervised by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.
However, Buenaventura said the AMLC records before the court do not establish that the money came from the Chinese government itself. He also said he could not confirm whether the agency had investigated the geopolitical links raised by Hontiveros because those matters were outside the subpoenaed records.
Cale88 remains under scrutiny as prosecutors examine Duterte and Carpio’s financial and business interests.
The new testimony has put the source of Cale88’s China-linked funds squarely under the impeachment court’s microscope.
ia/xf
