'CJ had 82 bank accounts with $12M'

MANILA, Philippines - Chief Justice Renato Corona maintained 82 dollar accounts from 2003 to 2011 in five banks containing more than $10 million, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales bared at the impeachment trial on Monday.

Morales told Senator-Judge Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. that the 82 bank accounts contained an estimated $12 million as

"My computation arrived at with the assistance with CPA lawyers, fresh deposits amounted to $12 million," Morales said at the Senate impeachment court.

Quoting an Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) report, Morales also testified that the Chief Justice made significant withdrawals from the banks and transferred them to another bank.

"At least $100,000 were withdrawn in three tranches and he made some significant withdrawals during the elections in 2004 and 2007 and the week he was impeached in 2011," Morales said during the cross examination by private prosecution lawyer Mario Bautista.

She added that on Dec. 12, 2011, Corona withdrew $418,000 from a time deposit and transferred it to a Bank of the Philippine Islands account in its San Jose del Monte branch in Quezon City.

Morales said she received the report from AMLC executive director Vicente Aquino after she requested the agency's assistance regarding the alleged $10 million bank deposits of the Chief Justice.

"I also sought the assistance of COA (Commission on Audit), and they came up with the analysis of the bank accounts," she added.

Lead defense counsel Serafin Cuevas, meanwhile, attempted to prevent Morales's power point presentation of the AMLC report.

Cuevas argued that the contents of the AMLC report were not covered by his direct examination and that the Ombudsman is not a competent witness to discuss the report.

"There is no competency of the witness to discuss this report... This will be a paper presentation... and this will include the figure stated in there," Cuevas said.

Instead of directly ruling on Cuevas's motion, presiding judge Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile put it into a vote. Senator-judges unanimously voted for the power point presentation.

423 bank transactions

During her presentation, Morales asked the court that she be substituted by COA's Heidi Mendoza in the power point presentation.

Morales asked the impeachment court that Mendoza be allowed to continue the presentation because she was already tired.

Continuing the presentation of Morales, Mendoza said that Corona made a total 423 transactions on 82 bank accounts from 2003 to 2011.

Mendoza's presentation, however, was cut short after the defense panel that she was not being presented as a witness by neither the defense nor the prosecution panel.

The Senate impeachment court directed Morales to return to the witness stand at the resumption of the trial on Tuesday at 2 p.m. to continue her presentation on Corona's alleged dollar deposits.

'Orchestrated, systematic'

The defense panel, meanwhile, claimed that the coordination between the Office of the Ombudsman and AMLC on Corona’s alleged multi-million dollar bank deposits reflected the government's “systematic” effort to pin down the magistrate.

Defense panel spokesperson Rico Quicho said it is not usual for the Ombudsman and the AMLC to coordinate with each other.

“Is it ordinary for the Ombudsman to coordinate with the AMLC? That does not happen most of the time. If that can be done, why was it not done in other cases?” Quicho said.

“So we can see that their accusation against the Chief Justice is orchestrated and systematic,” he added.

Quicho, however, declined to directly name who could be behind the efforts against Corona.

“Kayo naman, alam niyo na yan (You already know who they are),” he said.

Morales told the impeachment court earlier that the source of information about Corona's supposed $10 million dollar accounts was the AMLC.

Corona’s lawyers are puzzled as to why the documents about the alleged $10 million did not come out earlier.

“They (accusers) already have the information and documents. When they were asking the Chief Justice to answer the allegations, why did they not release them? Do we need to have them summoned before the Senate before they clarify whether they have evidence?” Quicho said.

Corona’s lawyers also want to know whether the proper procedures were followed when the Morales coordinated with the AMLC.

Tranquil Salvador, another spokesperson for the defense panel, said that an AMLC official could be summoned to determine if the proper procedures were complied with.

Defense panel spokesperson Karen Jimeno, for her part, said that while the law allows the Ombudsman to coordinate with state agencies, this should be subjected to certain requirements.

“Under the law, we follow specific process on how to coordinate with agencies like AMLC. There should be court proceeding, a formal request. The issue here is if the proper process were followed,” she said. – with Alexis Romero, Jamille Domingo and Regine Blanco