Accuser tells court he told Estrada 'It's too late'

Accuser tells court he told Estrada 'It's too late'

MANILA (Reuters): Philippine President Joseph Estrada's chief accuser testified on Thursday the former actor pleaded with him not to reveal alleged presidential links to gambling syndicates but he told Estrada: "It's too late."

Provincial governor Luis "Chavit" Singson, the prosecution's star witness in Estrada's impeachment trial, told the court senior Cabinet ministers also appealed to him not to go public but he told them there was no turning back.

Estrada, charged with bribery and corruption, faced removal from office if the Senate impeachment court convicted him. He has said his name is clear and he will be acquitted.

Singson, a former presidential ally, triggered the impeachment trial with his accusations in October that Estrada took about 400 million pesos ($8.0 million) in bribes from gambling syndicates running an illegal numbers game.

Singson said he broke with Estrada following a dispute over a franchise for gambling which Singson said he wanted to have but which the president gave to the governor's political rival.

In a telephone conversation later, Singson said Estrada appealed to him not to go to media with his allegations.

"Let's settle this, buddy," Singson quoted Estrada as saying. He said he told the president: "I would like to but i think it's too late."

Singson said Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora, Interior Secretary Alfredo Lim and Agriculture Secretary Eduardo Angara also urged him to hold back but he told them he could not. Singson is to resume his testimony on Friday.

Earlier on Thursday, prosecutors demanded the opening of sealed bank records now in the court's safe-keeping which they said they believed would show Estrada maintained a fictitious bank account.

The court on Tuesday subpoenaed confidential documents from Equitable PCI-Bank but kept them sealed pending a ruling on the papers' relevance to the case.

The Philippines' third largest bank turned over the documents on orders of Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide, the trial's presiding officer, after prosecutors said they could be the evidence they needed to convict the embattled leader.

The defense opposed the unsealing of the bank documents, arguing they were irrelevant and immaterial to the proceedings.

Lead prosecutor Joker Arroyo rejected the defense contention, saying the court should be liberal with rules on admitting evidence because the case involved the country's president.

"We are talking here of an impeachment...whether the president of the Philippines committed a wrong-doing, whether these banks are now being used for laundering the money of the president, whether these banks shielded the president," Arroyo said.

He said only one of three banks whose records had been subpoenaed had complied with the court order. He urged the court to prosecute the other two banks for contempt.

Equitable-PCI Bank in a statement denied it was stalling disclosure of any information relating to the trial and said it was willing to release information that would enable the trial to proceed smoothly.

The papers turned over by Equitable-PCI Bank included an October 1999 cheque for 142 million pesos (about $3 million), a specimen signature and a photograph of the depositor who opened the account on which the cheque was drawn, according to a list released by the court.

The prosecution has said the cheque was made out to a presidential friend who used the funds to purchase a mansion later occupied by a former movie actor whom Estrada has admitted is the mother of three of his children born out of wedlock.

Prosecutors have produced what they said was a copy of the cheque under another person's name but said the signatory's handwriting bore striking similarities with Estrada's signature.

Earlier on Thursday, Estrada denied receiving a cheque for five million pesos ($100,000) supposedly representing a pay-off from illegal gambling.