December 11, 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Source says Jolo ransom in 2 banks, by Donna S. Cueto,

December 11, 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Source says Jolo ransom in 2 banks, by Donna S. Cueto, 

A MILITARY intelligence source yesterday said that two banks were holding ransom payments made by foreign governments for the release of former Abu Sayyaf hostages. The disclosure came even as police authorities denied a German magazine report that President Estrada and former chief negotiator Robert Aventajado pocketed half of a $20-million ransom payment. 

Director General Panfilo Lacson, chief of the Philippine National Police, confirmed that German police had listened in on satellite phone conversations of Abu Sayyaf leader Galib Andang, alias Commander Robot, and that transcripts of the tapped conversations were in the custody of the PNP Intelligence Group. 

But Lacson denied the report by Der Spiegel that Mr. Estrada and Aventajado skimmed off 40 percent ($8 million) and 10 percent ($2 million), respectively, from ransom paid for the freedom of unnamed hostages held earlier this year in Jolo, Sulu. Transcripts of conversations between Robot and Aventajado made no mention of any cuts from an alleged ransom deal bankrolled by Libya and European countries, Lacson said. 

In its report, due out today, Der Spiegel reportedly quotes German secret police as saying that Aventajado, in one of his conversations with Robot, asked for commissions for himself and for the President from ransom money allegedly paid by the German government. 

"There is no truth to that report. We have copies of the transcripts that would show that there was no mention of such commissions or even allusions that the President benefited financially from the negotiations," Lacson said. Aventajado told the Inquirer that he would file a libel suit against the magazine after the report comes out. Press Undersecretary Mike Toledo also denied the report.

According to Lacson, two PNP intelligence officers assisted the German police in translating the conversations from the Tausug language into English, and spent almost a month in Germany listening to the taped conversations that Robot had made via a state-of-the-art satellite phone provided by the German police. 

Two banks 

The intelligence source told the Inquirer that alleged ransom money deposited in two banks, one owned by a close associate of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, is still intact. He did not specify an amount and asked the Inquirer to withhold the names of the two banks. 

In an earlier interview, the source claimed that foreign intelligence agents, including German and British ones, had tapped phone lines of Philippine government negotiators. According to the source, the serial numbers of  dollar bills sent to the Philippines as ransom payments had been recorded and could be traced. 

He claimed that people involved in the transaction got wind of this, and thus they did not use the money. "They cannot move it. The foreign intelligence had already been alerted. There would be a paper trail," he explained. Instead, the source alleged, the money was used as a guarantee for loans made by the two banks. The source claimed that other foreign intelligence agencies were planning to soon produce more proof of alleged ransom cuts received by officials. 

Unknown to Robot, Robert 

Lacson said the two Filipino police officers were furnished copies of the transcripts, which are now in the custody of Chief Supt. Romulo Sales, director of the PNP-IG. "Unknown to Robot, this satellite phone was being monitored by the police in Germany as part of their intelligence gathering operations on the status of the German hostages," Lacson said. 

A German family of three was among a group of hostages kidnapped from Sipadan Island in Malaysia in April. The Abu Sayyaf later seized German reporter Andreas Lorenz from Der Spiegel, but released him after the magazine paid an undisclosed sum. Sources at the time said that P40 million was paid for his release.

Lacson said he had talked to his counterpart in the German police who assured him that he would issue a statement immediately to clarify the issue. Aventajado dared Der Spiegel and the German secret police to produce any proof that either he or President Estrada had pocketed a portion of the ransom payments. 

"If it was true that they (the German secret police) taped our conversations, then they should give us a medal," Aventajado said, adding that he had made many sacrifices during the hostage negotiations. "It would be better if they would come out with those taped conversations," he said. 

Axe to grind? 

Aventajado said there were former members of the German secret service who might have an axe to grind because he foiled an alleged plan involving a former German hostage Renate Wallert. He claimed that former German Ambassador Wolfgang Gottelmann warned him on two occasions about the plan. 

"He told me to make sure that Mrs. Wallert was properly secured because there was a plan by former members of the German secret service to abduct Mrs. Wallert for resale to the German government at a higher price, with political demands," Aventajado said. 

He said that was why, when Wallert was freed, she was transported in an armored personal carrier from Abu Sayyaf territory to a military camp. "I foiled their plan," he said, adding that Gottelmann gave him the names of the supposed plotters. 

He also said the accusations could have been arranged by Estrada critics to coincide with the opening Thursday of the President's impeachment trial. "It is possible that this is part of efforts to destabilize the administration," Aventajado said. "Perhaps there is a hidden agenda." He also linked a journalist, a sister of a high-ranking member of the Makati Business Club, to the report, which he called "black propaganda." "I am dismayed with what they are saying about me," he said, repeating that he had not gotten a single cent out of the negotiations. 

On Libyan money

The Abu Sayyaf abducted the 21 Asian and Western hostages from Sipadan in April. The kidnappers were reported to have received huge ransom payments, mostly from Libya, for the release of some of the group. More hostages were abducted later and the military launched a rescue operation in September. The rebels still hold American Jeffrey Schilling and Filipino Roland Ullah. 

Asked what happened to millions of dollars worth of "development assistance" promised by the Libyan Gadhafi Foundation in exchange for the release of the Western hostages, Aventajado said that the Libyans had not sent the funds. "There has been no turnover of the money. There is nothing," Aventajado said. 

"I just hope that (the Libyans) make good their promise to deliver the money for the development projects," he said. But sources privy to the deal claim that the money from Libya is already in the hands of the Philippine government. 

The money, they claimed, actually came from European countries with nationals among the former hostages. The Sipadan group of foreign victims included Germans, French nationals, South Africans, Finns, Malaysians and a Lebanese-French woman. 

Ramos: Careful 

Former President Fidel Ramos said the government should look "very carefully" into the Der Spiegel report, adding: "Somebody must come clean about this from within the Philippines." Speaking on television, Ramos said European and German law enforcement agencies were traditionally very "conservative and cautious" and that "for them to be attributed as the source . . . is very serious." 

Batangas Rep. Ralph Recto urged President Estrada to immediately issue a "credible rebuttal" to the allegations, for the economy's sake more than anything else. The opposition congressman warned that international investors and lenders, particularly from Europe, might "boycott" the country if Mr. Estrada fails to convincingly clear himself of this latest and by far, most damaging, attack in the foreign media. 

10 times bigger

"Domestic civil disobedience the administration can weather. But if the boycott comes from abroad then you're a goner," said Recto, who used to chair the House committee on economic affairs until he bolted the ruling coalition LAMP in the wake of the "Juetengate" exposé. He said the Der Spiegel report pointed to "a scandal 10 times bigger than the bribery and corruption charges" the President is facing in his impeachment trial in the Senate. 

Likening the alleged pocketing of a portion of the ransom "to stealing from Church alms," Recto warned that the country could become a "full-fledged pariah" to foreign investors should the President fail to come clean. "In today's globalized economy, if your leader is portrayed as a rogue one in the mold of a Noriega or Milosevic, the economy gets affected one way or another," he said. --With reports from Volt Contreras; AFP, AP