A Philippine bank on Tuesday refused to reveal details of President Joseph Estrada's alleged secret account during his landmark corruption trial.
Prosecutors asked a Senate tribunal hearing the case to compel Equitable PCI Bank to open its records on the account, saying crucial evidence against the president could be destroyed if it failed to produce the details.
However the bank said the matter was covered by a bank secrecy statute.
"It is a matter of extreme importance that the records be shown before any tampering takes place," prosecutor Joker Arroyo told chief justice Hilario Davide, the presiding officer of the tribunal.
Arroyo said prosecutors had flown "at great expense" an expert from Britain's Scotland Yard police force to inspect the specimen signatures of the account.
Arroyo had alleged at the start of the trial last week that Estrada used a secret bank account with a fictitious name to acquire a 142 million-peso (3.84 million dollar) mansion as a gift to one of his mistresses.
The check of a person identified as Jose Valhalla was used to purchase the property and the signature on it was similar to Estrada's signature on all Philippine bank notes, he said.
Estrada is facing charges of corruption, bribery, culpable violation of the constitution and betrayal of public trust.
He has been impeached for alleged corruption by the House of Representatives and could be removed from power if the Senate convicts him.
"This case will be won or lost on the bank records, that is very clear," Arroyo argued Tuesday.
"We assure you Mr. Presiding Officer, the president will be convicted on bank records."
However, Arroyo charged that prosecutors were now "experiencing a stonewalling among banks."
He claimed Equitable PCI Bank managers "have been reassigned," transferred or "sent abroad for three months,"
Presiding officer Hilario Davide, the presiding officer of the tribunal, deferred a ruling amid an objection by Estrada's lawyers.
Prosecutor Oscar Moreno told the tribunal that PCI Equitable vice president Ceferino Ang had contended that the account in question was covered by the confidentiality law on bank deposits.
The law bars the inspection of bank accounts by other third parties "except upon written permission of the depositor" or an order from a court or an impeachment tribunal.
Moreno described the bank's refusal as a "naked and blatant obstruction of justice" -- MANILA (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
