RP graft sleuths focus on Ejercito<\/p>\n
MANILA (AFP): Investigators looking into alleged corruption by
\ndeposed president Joseph Estrada said on Thursday they were
\nturning their attention to his wife, Luisa Ejercito, after
\ndiscovering massive withdrawals from one of her bank accounts.<\/p>\n
Government ombudsman Aniano Desierto said Ejercito, who is
\nrunning for the senate elections in May, withdrew 109 million
\npesos ($2.3 million) from a branch of Citibank NA on Feb. 1,
\nshortly before the internal revenue bureau froze her family's
\naccounts.<\/p>\n
Deputy ombudsman Margarito Gervacio said Ejercito could be
\ncharged along with her husband for perjury for not listing this
\nwealth in a joint statement in 1999 when the couple declared 35.9
\nmillion pesos in assets.<\/p>\n
Under a law on ill-gotten wealth, if a government official is
\nshown to have far more wealth than he could have legimitately
\nearned, the burden of proof would be on him to establish that the
\nmoney is not ill-gotten, Gervacio said.<\/p>\n
\"As we could not determine where this money came from,
\nconsidering the fact that this is grossly disproportionate to the
\nlegitimate income ... the presumption of the law is that this is
\nill-gotten,\" Gervacio said.<\/p>\n
The ombudsman's office obtained the bank records through
\nsubpoenas that also covered the accounts held by other family
\nmembers and his acknowledged mistresses.<\/p>\n
Gervacio said Ejercito could theoretically be charged
\nalongside her husband, for \"plunder\" referring to massive graft.
\nThis is a non-bailable offense punishable by death.<\/p>\n
However, a prosecutor in Estrada's aborted corruption trial in
\nSenate said Ejercito was due to be named as a co-respondent with
\nher husband on the alleged diversion of funds from the government
\nsweepstakes agency to one of her charitable foundations.<\/p>\n
Estrada was impeached for allegedly embezzling state funds and
\ntaking bribes from gambling bosses, but prosecutors failed to win
\na conviction that would have thrown him out of office.<\/p>\n
Gervacio said the former first lady was already listed as a
\nco-respondent along with Estrada in some of the six corruption
\ncases that they were ready to file.<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court earlier this week barred prosecutors from
\nfiling cases against Estrada for a month to give the tribunal
\ntime to decide on his petition seeking presidential immunity from
\nsuits.<\/p>\n
Desierto said Estrada's mistresses were not yet listed as co-
\nrespondents in the cases but that there was evidence some of them
\nhad millions of pesos deposited in their accounts.<\/p>\n
The mistresses are considered as \"persons that might be the
\nrecipients of the (ill-gotten) assets,\" Desierto said.<\/p>\n
Ejercito, a psychiatrist, had engaged in charity work when her
\nhusband was president.<\/p>\n
In January, Estrada was toppled by a popular uprising spurred
\nby a growing corruption scandal and the apparent collapse of his
\ncorruption trial in Senate.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, Ejercito announced she was running for the
\nSenate on a pro-Estrada ticket in order to redeem her husband's
\nname.<\/p>\n
Many analysts say she will benefit in the polls from her image
\nas a martyred wife who stood by her husband even while he
\nadmitted to keeping a string of mistresses.<\/p>",
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