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.