Bank records turned over to Estrada trial<\/p>\n
MANILA (Reuters): The Philippines' third largest bank on
\nTuesday surrendered confidential records to a court hearing
\nembattled President Joseph Estrada's impeachment trial after
\nprosecutors said the papers were needed to convict him.<\/p>\n
The documents sealed in an envelope were turned over by
\nEquitable-PCI Bank president Wilfredo Vergara to the Senate
\nimpeachment tribunal about an hour after court presiding officer
\nHilario Davide demanded they be handed over.<\/p>\n
Davide, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, had ordered the
\nrecords sealed pending a decision on whether they could be
\nadmitted as evidence in the president's trial.<\/p>\n
Davide issued the order on an urgent appeal from prosecutors
\nwho said their case against Estrada was being hampered by
\n\"stonewalling among banks.\"<\/p>\n
The documents turned over by the bank included an October 1999
\ncheque for 142 million pesos (about $3 million) and a microfilm
\nof it, a specimen signature and pictures of a depositor opening
\nan account which had come under prosecution questioning.<\/p>\n
\"Equitable-PCI Bank wishes to apologize for giving the
\nimpression that we are stalling the disclosure of information
\nrelating to a subpoena from the impeachment court,\" Vergara said
\nin an accompanying letter.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors had said the cheque was signed by Estrada in a
\nfalse name.<\/p>\n
They told the court they had hired a British handwriting
\nexpert to verify the signature on the cheque.<\/p>\n
The prosecution has said the cheque was made out to a
\npresidential friend who used the funds to purchase a mansion
\nlater occupied by a woman who Estrada has admitted is the mother
\nof three of his children.<\/p>\n
Equitable officials had earlier not honored a subpoena for the
\ndocuments claiming it violated bank confidentiality records. The
\nprosecution called it deliberate delaying tactics.<\/p>\n
Tensions ratcheted up in the trial, now in its fourth day,
\nafter one senator accused another of gloating during an
\naltercation over the need for the court to move quickly to
\nsubpoena bank records.<\/p>\n
The trial closed early to allow the prosecutors -- all
\ncongressmen from the House of Representatives -- to vote on the
\nbudget for next year, delaying testimony from provincial governor
\nLuis Singson, Estrada's main accuser.<\/p>\n
Singson, who has said he was the bagman for Estrada and
\ncarried millions of dollars to him in bribes from illegal
\ngambling syndicates, will now testify on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
A vote by two-thirds of the 22-member Senate is required to
\nconvict and remove Estrada from office.<\/p>\n
Conviction<\/p>\n
Conviction on any one of the four charges against Estrada,
\nranging from corruption and bribery to violation of the
\nconstitution, is enough to topple him.<\/p>\n
\"We assure you, Mr Chief Justice, the president will be
\nconvicted on bank records,\" prosecutor Joker Arroyo said.<\/p>\n
He said some events made him suspicious, citing the transfer
\nof an official of another bank to another post and the sending
\nabroad of an official of one other bank.<\/p>\n
\"This series of events makes us very apprehensive that by the
\ntime we look at the documents, we can never find the truth.\"
\n\"It is a matter of extreme importance that the records be shown
\nbefore any tampering takes place,\" Arroyo said.<\/p>\n
Davide had also ordered three senior Equitable-PCI Bank
\nofficials to show cause why they should not be prosecuted for
\ncontempt of court for refusing the earlier subpoena for records.<\/p>\n
Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, a member of Estrada's political
\ncoalition, exchanged angry words with opposition senator Teofisto
\nGuingona on the issue of taking depositions from witnesses.
\nEnrile replied: \"Well sir, we are both senators, don't gloat at
\nme because I will not allow it.\"<\/p>\n
Guingona said he was \"only looking\" at Enrile and the chief
\njustice called for a quick recess.<\/p>\n
Enrile and Guingona are among the 22 senators acting as trial
\njurors who will decide on Estrada's fate.<\/p>\n
Twink Macaraig, a journalist for Singapore-based television
\nchannel Channel News Asia, earlier testified on comments Estrada
\nmade last month before Manila-based foreign correspondents.<\/p>\n
Estrada had told the correspondents Singson offered him 200
\nmillion pesos from gambling syndicates running underground
\nlotteries called jueteng but he spurned it.<\/p>\n
He said it was only later that he learned Singson deposited
\nthe money into the bank account of a foundation run by the
\npresident's brother-in-law.<\/p>",
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