Bank records turned over to Estrada trial

Bank records turned over to Estrada trial

MANILA (Reuters): The Philippines' third largest bank on
Tuesday surrendered confidential records to a court hearing
embattled President Joseph Estrada's impeachment trial after
prosecutors said the papers were needed to convict him.

The documents sealed in an envelope were turned over by
Equitable-PCI Bank president Wilfredo Vergara to the Senate
impeachment tribunal about an hour after court presiding officer
Hilario Davide demanded they be handed over.

Davide, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, had ordered the
records sealed pending a decision on whether they could be
admitted as evidence in the president's trial.

Davide issued the order on an urgent appeal from prosecutors
who said their case against Estrada was being hampered by
"stonewalling among banks."

The documents turned over by the bank included an October 1999
cheque for 142 million pesos (about $3 million) and a microfilm
of it, a specimen signature and pictures of a depositor opening
an account which had come under prosecution questioning.

"Equitable-PCI Bank wishes to apologize for giving the
impression that we are stalling the disclosure of information
relating to a subpoena from the impeachment court," Vergara said
in an accompanying letter.

Prosecutors had said the cheque was signed by Estrada in a
false name.

They told the court they had hired a British handwriting
expert to verify the signature on the cheque.

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 woman who Estrada has admitted is the mother
of three of his children.

Equitable officials had earlier not honored a subpoena for the
documents claiming it violated bank confidentiality records. The
prosecution called it deliberate delaying tactics.

Tensions ratcheted up in the trial, now in its fourth day,
after one senator accused another of gloating during an
altercation over the need for the court to move quickly to
subpoena bank records.

The trial closed early to allow the prosecutors -- all
congressmen from the House of Representatives -- to vote on the
budget for next year, delaying testimony from provincial governor
Luis Singson, Estrada's main accuser.

Singson, who has said he was the bagman for Estrada and
carried millions of dollars to him in bribes from illegal
gambling syndicates, will now testify on Wednesday.

A vote by two-thirds of the 22-member Senate is required to
convict and remove Estrada from office.

Conviction

Conviction on any one of the four charges against Estrada,
ranging from corruption and bribery to violation of the
constitution, is enough to topple him.

"We assure you, Mr Chief Justice, the president will be
convicted on bank records," prosecutor Joker Arroyo said.

He said some events made him suspicious, citing the transfer
of an official of another bank to another post and the sending
abroad of an official of one other bank.

"This series of events makes us very apprehensive that by the
time we look at the documents, we can never find the truth."
"It is a matter of extreme importance that the records be shown
before any tampering takes place," Arroyo said.

Davide had also ordered three senior Equitable-PCI Bank
officials to show cause why they should not be prosecuted for
contempt of court for refusing the earlier subpoena for records.

Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, a member of Estrada's political
coalition, exchanged angry words with opposition senator Teofisto
Guingona on the issue of taking depositions from witnesses.
Enrile replied: "Well sir, we are both senators, don't gloat at
me because I will not allow it."

Guingona said he was "only looking" at Enrile and the chief
justice called for a quick recess.

Enrile and Guingona are among the 22 senators acting as trial
jurors who will decide on Estrada's fate.

Twink Macaraig, a journalist for Singapore-based television
channel Channel News Asia, earlier testified on comments Estrada
made last month before Manila-based foreign correspondents.

Estrada had told the correspondents Singson offered him 200
million pesos from gambling syndicates running underground
lotteries called jueteng but he spurned it.

He said it was only later that he learned Singson deposited
the money into the bank account of a foundation run by the
president's brother-in-law.