Estrada's main accuser unfazed in cross-examination

Estrada's main accuser unfazed in cross-examination

MANILA (Reuters): The prosecution's star witness in Philippine President Joseph Estrada's impeachment trial clung firmly on Wednesday to testimony that he funneled millions of dollars in gambling payoffs to the former actor.

Provincial governor Luis Singson also testified that Estrada ordered him to cover up the diversion of excise taxes to the president's family and told the court he was willing to go to prison if Estrada was locked up with him.

"I am ready to go to jail as long as the biggest sinner goes with me," Singson told the Senate impeachment court while undergoing grueling cross-examination by the defense.

The allegations by Singson have formed the basis for Estrada's impeachment trial on charges of bribery, corruption, betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the constitution.

If he is found guilty by a two-third majority of the 22-member Senate on any one charge, he will be removed from office.

Estrada, who has denied all charges against him, told reporters he was the victim of an opposition conspiracy and vowed he would emerge victorious in the trial.

The trial resumed under intensified security concerns after a spate of bombings in Manila at the weekend killed 22 people and wounded more than 100, further battering the country's already rattled financial markets. Six of the injured have died in hospital in the past two days, officials said.

Defense counsel Estelito Mendoza, one of the country's top lawyers, questioned Singson for over three hours but failed to shake his testimony that gambling collections mostly in 1,000 peso bills were either deposited in banks or handed over to the president over a two-year period.

"The net collection that went to President Estrada was 400 million pesos ($8 million)," Singson said.

But Singson, under questioning by senators acting as court judges, appeared to waver on his other allegation that Estrada and his family had pocketed 130 million pesos in excise taxes.

He admitted he never actually saw Estrada receive the tax money and then said the amount -- in bundles of cash which a presidential aide delivered to Estrada's private residence -- might have been only 90 million pesos.

One skeptical senator told the court he once had one million pesos and actually weighed it "out of curiosity" to see how heavy it was. He estimated 130 million pesos in bank notes would weigh nearly 200 kg.

"I don't think two persons would be able to carry it," the senator said.

But Singson said he was sure Estrada received the money because the president confirmed to him later that he got it. "The order of the president was to cover it up," Singson said.

At one point, Mendoza asked the governor not to keep naming Estrada when the question was unrelated to the president, but Singson replied: "He is the one starring here so I have to mention President Estrada's name".

Earlier, in documents sent to the court, Estrada rejected prosecution demands for him to clarify his links to a top banker allegedly involved in an attempt to cover up his supposed multi- million-dollar secret account with a major Manila bank.

Defense lawyers said prosecutors could not compel the president to make statements "which may be used to convict him." The prosecution had asked Estrada in writing to answer questions dealing with gambling payoffs and with bank accounts where some of the money was supposedly deposited.

In a written answer, Estrada's defense panel invoked the right of a person against self-incrimination.

"If an ordinary suspect -- an alleged pickpocket, say -- who is undergoing a mere custodial investigation in a police precinct has the right to remain silent, how much more the President of the Philippines undergoing an impeachment trial which may result not only in his removal from office but subsequent prosecution in a criminal court," the lawyers said.

The prosecution had asked Estrada if he knew George Go, who resigned last month as Equitable-PCI Bank chairman.

Bank vice-president Clarissa Ocampo on Tuesday testified to supposed attempts to cover up Estrada's alleged secret account by moving to transfer it to a businessman-friend of the president. She said Go instructed her to prepare the relevant documents. The prosecution has said the existence of the account would prove charges of corruption against Estrada.

Estrada has said he is willing to personally testify in court but that the final decision will be up to his lawyers.