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Impeachment trial judges bar prosecution from key bank documents

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January 17, 2001 

MANILA-- (AP) - Senators dealt a major blow to prosecutors in President Joseph Estrada's impeachment trial Tuesday, barring them access to key bank documents and sparking a storm of protest.

Prosecutors say the 11 to 10 vote against examining the documents betray a strong loyalty to Estrada among the senators, who are also impeachment trial judges, that may get the president acquitted.

Rep. Joker Arroyo, a prosecuting congressman, said the documents, in a sealed envelope in the impeachment court, would prove Estrada amassed an undeclared 3.3 billion pesos (dlrs 63.5 million) under four aliases.

"This is a shameless vote of acquittal," said Arroyo. "This means there are 11 senators there who are in the pocket of the president."

The Senate is scheduled to vote around Feb. 12 to acquit or convict Estrada. At least two-thirds of the 22 senators are needed for a conviction. One senator was in the United States for medical treatment Tuesday and did not vote.

The vote left several anti-Estrada senators near tears and private prosecutors walked out in unison. Senate President Pimentel Aquilino and Senate Secretary Lutgardo Barbo angrily resigned to protest the vote.

The vote keeps prosecutors from what they say would be the most damaging evidence yet that Estrada grew rich off of bribes and kickbacks after 18 months in office.

Before the vote, Arroyo pleaded with the senators, sitting as judges at the impeachment court, to end weeks of uncertainty over the envelope's contents.

But Estrada lawyer Estelito Mendoza argued that the court should bar access to the documents because the alleged account was not specified in the impeachment complaint and is therefore beyond the tribunal's jurisdiction.

Estrada, elected in 1998 with an unprecedented electoral majority, faces charges of corruption, bribery, betrayal of public trust and violation of the constitution.

Corruption allegations surfaced in October when Ilocos Sur provincial Gov. Luis Singson, a former drinking and gambling buddy of the president, accused him of taking more than 400 million pesos (dlrs 7.7 million) in bribes from illegal gambling lords and 130 million pesos (dlrs 2.5 million) in tobacco tax kickbacks.

Arroyo appealed to the tribunal to open the disputed records "to demonstrate that we cannot have this president because he cannot even respect our banking laws."

"We want to show how the president amassed 3.3 billion pesos (dlrs 63.5 million) in a span of 1 1/2 years," Arroyo said. "We want to open the mystery of the savings account."

Arroyo said Estrada "has prostituted and bastardized the banking system ... but not in his name."

The prosecution says Estrada broke the law by not fully disclosing his assets and having unexplained wealth. The president declared total assets in 1999 of about dlrs 700,000. He has an income of dlrs 1,000 per month.

Arroyo said Estrada used the name Jose Velarde to hide his ownership of the account.

He said the savings account was closed a few days after the Senate received the impeachment complaint on Nov. 13, but the money went to six other accounts using four assumed names.

In December, Equitable PCI bank vice president Clarissa Ocampo testified that Estrada used the name Jose Velarde in transferring 500 million pesos (dlrs 9.6 million) from the savings account in her bank to a trust account used by Estrada to invest in a company owned by one of his friends.

Former Finance Secretary Edgardo Espiritu and former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Perfecto Yasay have testified that Estrada secretly owned shares in a company that became the center of a stock manipulation scandal. They accused him of pressure to clear the controlling stock holder, a friend of Estrada, in a price-rigging investigation.

"I think they have not shown any single evidence that link me to any of these accusations and I would say that the prosecution was successful in hiring professional liars," Estrada said in one of his strongest tirades against the prosecution.

"These are corrupt officials who can tell lies with a straight face. They're desperate," Estrada added.