A TikTok video rehashed a false claim about the late ex-president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino being charged of graft and plunder related to the alleged gold shipment to Thailand. It also revived a false claim that some 400,00 tons of gold were hidden in the Central Bank of the Philippines.
The May 28 TikTok video, which was also shared on Facebook a day after, resurrected a five-year-old news report which falsely claimed that Aquino III and six other people were charged with graft and plunder for allegedly shipping 3,500 tons of gold to the Bank of Thailand.
VERA Files Fact Check previously debunked these claims.
UNTV did produce a report on Jan. 10, 2017 about graft and plunder charges filed against Aquino. This report is now unavailable but multiple news articles pointed out that the charges were based on a document which the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) called “spurious.”
Additionally, the woman at the end of the video clip claimed that 400,000 tons of gold were hidden in the Central Bank of the Philippines. Not true. The BSP has debunked a similar claim.
The World Gold Council reported in January 2022 that only 205,238 tons of gold have been mined through history.
The charges against Aquino and six others were based on a “BSP Circular No. 49 of 2014” allegedly obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, the false video said. On June 11, 2016, a Facebook user posted a copy of the fake BSP circular without proper verification.
Cursory search shows that the woman who claimed that there were 400,000 tons of gold in the BSP is Karen Hudes, who called herself a whistleblower and claimed to be a former World Bank lawyer. She posts videos on conspiracies about a so-called Global Debt Bank on her YouTube channel. The clip featuring Hudes was sourced from a March 28, 2014 video by alternative news organization The Next News Network.
In a 2014 statement, the World Bank said: “Karen Hudes has not been employed by the World Bank since 2007 and is in no capacity authorized to represent any arm of the World Bank Group. Any claims otherwise by Ms. Hudes or her proxies are false and should not be viewed as credible.”
The incorrect video was uploaded by a TikTok user and by Facebook page Hijakker Gaming, and got a total of 1,430 and 3.18 million interactions, respectively.
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(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)