OMBUDSMAN: ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING
COUNCIL SOURCE OF CJ $ ACCT INFO
MANILA, MAY 15, 2012 (PHILSTAR)
By Jess Diaz (Photo taken in October 2011 shows
Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales fielding questions at a press conference.
Morales is scheduled to testify before the Senate impeachment court this week.
Boy Santos)
The prosecution panel has expressed confidence that Ombudsman Conchita
Carpio-Morales has the goods to pin down Chief Justice Renato Corona on his
purported $10-million bank accounts.
"That is my impression. She must have based her request for the Chief Justice
to answer allegations against him about his dollar accounts on some credible
documents, other than the complaints filed by some concerned citizens,"
prosecution spokesman Quezon Rep. Erin Tañada said yesterday.
The Ombudsman is scheduled to testify before the Senate impeachment court
this week.
A reliable source who asked not to be named said Morales is expected to talk
about 80 dollar accounts with millions of dollars held in about four banks apart
from Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank), with over 400 transactions recorded
between 2003 and 2011.
Morales and other complainants have been subpoenaed as "hostile witnesses"
upon the request of Corona's lawyers.
Earlier, the Ombudsman, invoking the power to conduct an investigation even
against impeachable officials, directed Corona to disprove the bank records that
were turned over by Harvey Keh and other complainants, including Akbayan Rep.
Walden Bello and his predecessor, former Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel.
"She has that authority under the Ombudsman Law. Besides, the annual
statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) that the Chief Justice
signed includes a waiver on the examination of his bank
deposits. The waiver is a feature of the SALN," he said.
Another prosecution spokesman, Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara said the issue
of the $10-million alleged foreign currency deposits would bolster the
prosecution panel's assertion that Corona failed to declare some of his cash
assets in his previous SALNs.
"The prosecution is cautiously awaiting the reception of evidence from the
Ombudsman on such accounts. Do they exist and contain such a large amount of
money? If indeed, they are shown to exist, we believe they would bring to a
finish this long drawn out trial," Angara added.
In most of his SALNs until 2010, Corona's total net worth was placed at P23
million at the highest.
"The CJ could not possibly have a valid or plausible defense should there be
$10 million in his account, given that he only declared P23 million at the most
in his SALN," he noted.
"No good faith defense would hold and it would be clear that this was
undeclared, and possibly ill-gotten," Angara added.
Malacañang also echoed the belief of the prosecution that Morales can pin
down the chief magistrate on corruption charges.
"We know that the Ombudsman is very, very careful in her findings,"
presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda explained yesterday.
"So when she said that there's a $10-million deposit (in Corona's accounts),
we would ascribe a lot of iota of truth there," he added.
Lacierda acknowledged, however, that they still have no idea whether the
Ombudsman knows it to be accurate.
"We don't know what information, what's the basis of the information she has.
It will be divulged once she (Morales) is summoned by the Senate," he said.
Senator-judges, Palace welcomes CJ, Ombudsman's testimonies
Meanwhile, Senators Francis Escudero, Francis Pangilinan and majority leader
Vicente Sotto III are expecting both Ombudsman Morales and the Chief Justice to
be able to explain the alleged $10-million charge.
"They will be asked to substantiate the $10-million charge," Escudero said.
Sotto noted that Morales' appearance would be "interesting" while Corona's
move to testify before the impeachment court was "most important."
"We don't really know what and who the defense will present tomorrow. But the
Ombudsman will be a very interesting witness," Sotto said.
Sen. Pangilinan expects that Corona will be able to shed light on the
discrepancies in his SALN, and the various revelations within and outside the
impeachment court.
"He (Corona) should shed light in the discrepancies between his assets and
the net worth he reported in his SALN totaling P22 million and the real and
personal properties that have been shown to exist under his name including his
five dollar accounts in PSBank, the millions of pesos in other accounts and real
properties with purchase prices exceeding his total net worth in his SALN,"
Pangilinan said.
The senators will hold a caucus this morning to discuss how to go about the
decision of Corona to appear before the court and the presentation of Morales as
a hostile witness.
Also pending before the chamber is a petition filed by the defense, calling
for Senator-judge Edgardo Angara to inhibit from the trial.
Angara had formally manifested that he will not inhibit, citing his
constitutional duty to act as judge in the impeachment court.
The Palace also welcomed the decision of Corona to take the witness stand.
"We certainly welcome the decision of the defense and also the Chief Justice
to decide to testify before the Impeachment Court," Lacierda said in a press
briefing.
"The truth will come out, one way or the other. We have always maintained
that the only person who can testify to the truthfulness of the SALN, to the
truthfulness of all his assets would be the Chief Justice," he said.
"And so by coming forth, he will be able to shed light on what he truly has
in his possession - the assets; meaning, the cash, foreign currency deposits, as
well as the real properties," Lacierda said.
"This is something that everybody is looking forward to - even the senator
judges, even all of us, even the media is also looking forward to it. So as to
what the substance of the testimony is, it will always be subject to
cross-examination," he added.
According to Lacierda, Corona's testimony will be a weaving details of the
whole story, where the big picture will eventually be revealed, since the
impeachment trial is covered live by media.
He said it would also be up to the senator-judges to decide whether they
would reverse their previous ruling that prevented scrutiny of Corona's dollar
accounts, in compliance with a Supreme Court order that invoked total
confidentiality of such accounts.
"We will leave it with the senators to decide if they will reconsider their
vote on the dollar deposits," Lacierda said, noting that Philippine Savings Bank
(PSBank) president Pascual Garcia's testimony confirmed the existence of dollar
accounts, without mentioning any amount.
Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said they expect Corona to
make good his promise to take the witness stand and tell the truth about his
dollar accounts.
Malacañang has called on Corona to tell the whole truth when he takes the
witness stand before the Senate impeachment court.
Valte said they expect Corona to reveal everything over lingering questions
on the alleged dollar deposits.
"Pawang katotohanan lamang (Only the truth)," was the phrase Valte said, when
asked of expectations. She refused though to speculate whether a Corona
testimony would be the game changer in the impeachment trial.
"It's too early to judge whether his testimony would be substantial or a
waste of time. Let's just wait for his testimony, and what will be his answer to
questions regarding his dollar accounts by the senator-judges," Valte said.
Corona needs knockout evidence to win
Comparing the five-month old impeachment trial of the Chief Justice to a
boxing match, prosecution spokesman and Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo said that
Corona needs a knockout punch of evidence to emerge victorious.
"His testimony will make or break for the defense, but not for the
prosecution because we already have an overwhelming case to produce a
conviction," Quimbo told The STAR.
Last week, Corona's lawyers moved that Corona will personally testify at his
own trial on the condition that he be allowed to face his accusers on the recent
issue of $10-million in foreign currency deposits, which was being investigated
by the Office of the Ombudsman.
With the trial in the homestretch, Quimbo maintained that Corona and his
defense team have failed to rebut evidence on Article 2, which is the strongest
among the remaining three Articles of Impeachment that Corona is now facing at
the Senate.
Article 2 delves on Corona's betrayal of public trust and/or culpable
violation of the Constitution for non-disclosure of his SALNs, and alleged
failure to declare some properties and bank accounts in the SALN from 2003 to
2010.
"Akin to boxing, we are in the last round. Realizing that they are losing
heavily in the scorecard of all the judges, they need a knockout to win. That's
what they hope CJ will do. We doubt that he'll be able to do that," the Marikina
representative added. – With Delon Porcalla, Christina
Mendez
Morales: AMLC source of $10M bank deposits info By
Dennis Carcamo The Philippine Star Updated May 14, 2012 03:53 PM 50 comments to
this post
MANILA, Philippines - Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales on Monday told the
Senate impeachment court that she got the information about the alleged $10
million owned by Chief Justice Renato Corona from the Anti-Money Laundering
Council.
Presented by the defense panel as a hostile witness, Morales also said the
private complainants did not mention any figure in their complaint filed before
her office for investigation.
"They did not mention any $10 million," Morales told the Senate court during
the direct examination by defense lead counsel Serafin Cuevas.
Morales said she wrote to Corona last April 20 to ask him to explain these
accounts, including those in foreign currencies in various banks after receiving
the complaints from Akbayan spokesperson Riza Hontiveros and Kaya Natin Movement
convenor Harvey Keh.
"We are doing a case buildup, a fact-finding investigation...we would like
for him to enlighten us in fact we asked the help of another agency," the
Ombudsman said.
She said Corona is not yet an accused or indicted for a criminal case but
merely a respondent.
"There is no determination of probable cause so he is not yet an accused but
only respondent," Morales said.
When asked why she did not include in her letter that she has already an AMLC
report regarding the $10 million, the Ombudsman said "I though it is not
necessary."
Chief News Editor: Sol
Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE
NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS
ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/phnotweet
This is the PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE (PHNO) Mailing List.
To stop receiving our news items, please send a blank e-mail addressed to: phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Please visit our homepage at: http://www.newsflash.org/
(c) Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/phno/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/phno/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
phno-digest@yahoogroups.com
phno-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
PH Headline News Online. Copyright 2011 All Rights Reserved