COSP11: At UN panel, Remulla warns of fast-vanishing assets as corruption goes digital

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'Cryptocurrency is now the klepto-currency,' Ombudsman Boying Remulla tells an audience at UN's anti-corruption conference

DOHA, Qatar – At a United Nations anti-corruption conference panel, Philippine Ombudsman Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla stressed the need for governments to invest in training its own people on digital forensics, amid the supposed rapid migration of corruption into the digital space.

“The moment that we were cracking down on corruption in our country several months ago, before we knew it, the money was gone. Because cryptocurrency is now the klepto-currency,” Remulla said on Tuesday, December 16 at the 11th Session of the Conference of the States Parties (COSP) to the United Nations Convention against Corruption.

“One of the problems that we have right now, to trace this money, because for all of us here who are concerned about asset recovery, how can we recover these assets if we’re not able to look at the digital trail?” he added.

Over the past months, the Philippines has grappled with the flood control corruption scandal involving officials in government. The Ombudsman’s brother, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla, previously told Bilyonaryo that resigned congressman Zaldy Co, believed to be behind the national budget mess and is now hiding abroad, used cryptocurrency to transfer P5 billion overseas.

The younger Remulla also said in the past that illegal drug traders have been utilizing cryptocurrency “to hide their proceeds.”

The Ombudsman’s panel at the COSP on Tuesday tackled the digital nexus between cybercrime and corruption.

Last year, the Philippines made international headlines for scam hubs operated by Philippine offshore gaming operators, which the Marcos administration subsequently banned.

The older Remulla believes governments are behind criminals in understanding digital finance.

“We first need to build our capacity to understand everything properly. Building the capacity is not only for us prosecutors, for those who investigate, but also for the other side of the table, which is the judiciary,” he said.

At the COSP, Remulla heads the Philippine delegation, which also includes Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Geraldine Econg, new Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Anna Liza Logan, as well as other ranking officials from the Department of Budget and Management, Procurement Service, Commission on Audit, Commission on Civil Service, and the Office of the President.

COSP11 brings together representatives of 192 governments that ratified the UNCAC, anti-corruption advocates from civil society, media, and the private sector.

While COSP resolutions are not legally enforceable treaties, their recommendations provide policy directions that may serve as tool for anti-corruption advocates to pressure their respective governments to meet global standards on good governance. – Rappler.com