Estrada mulls suing NGO over graft allegations
Estrada mulls suing NGO over graft allegations
Associated Press, Manila
Disgraced former President Joseph Estrada said on Friday he was
consulting his lawyers on possible legal action against a global
watchdog group that identified him as one of the world's 10 most
corrupt former leaders.
Estrada ranked No. 10 on the Transparency International list,
which also includes late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
Speaking to a local radio station from military detention,
Estrada denied the charge that he plundered about US$77 million.
He has been on trial on corruption charges since being toppled
during massive street protests in 2001.
"The accusation has no basis, because up to now the case is
still being tried," he told Manila radio DZBB. "I have nothing to
do with the charges being leveled against me."
Prosecutors have used dozens of witnesses to detail a lavish
lifestyle of a president with a reputation for womanizing and
drinking, while portraying himself as a champion of the poor.
They allege Estrada amassed about 4 billion pesos ($77 million)
in illegal gambling payoffs, tax kickbacks and under-the-table
commissions siphoned into secret bank accounts, then used to buy
palatial homes.
"That is the accusation of the current government to destroy
me before the people," Estrada said. "They already presented 76
witnesses, but the prosecution has failed to show that I have any
connection to that."
"If I were guilty, I would have already fled the country, and
I would have no case and I would be in the U.S. or Europe having
a grand time, but I chose to face the charges because I know I
have not done wrong," he said.
Estrada said he called his lawyers on Friday morning, a day
after the Berlin-based Transparency International released the
list, to inquire about the possibility of legal action. He did
not elaborate.
Ex-dictator Marcos was No. 2 on the list behind former
Indonesian leader Soeharto. Third was former Zaire President
Mobutu Sese Seko.
Marcos, toppled in 1986 after 20 years of iron-fisted rule
during which thousands of people were imprisoned, tortured or
disappeared, embezzled between $5 billion and $10 billion,
Transparency International said.
The Philippine government has received $684 million of Marcos'
alleged ill-gotten wealth from Swiss bank deposits after the
Supreme Court ruled that Marcos and his widow, Imelda, "failed to
justify the lawful nature" of the acquisition of the funds. The
court said they legally earned only about $300,000.
Imelda Marcos and the president's children could not
immediately be reached for comment.