HOUSE prosecutors have evidence they intend to use to establish the connection between Vice President Sara Z. Duterte and businessman Jaime T. Cruz as they continue building their alleged unexplained wealth case against the VP before the Senate impeachment court.
“Well, we have the evidence for that. So I just ask everyone to be patient as we will be presenting the evidence that we are all awaiting,” House impeachment prosecutor and San Juan Rep. Ysabel Maria “Bel” Zamora disclosed in an interview on One News’ Morning Matters Thursday.
Zamora was asked whether prosecutors could establish through documents the relationship between Duterte and Cruz after questions arose during the presentation of Securities and Exchange Commission records involving companies linked to the Vice President.
Cruz figured prominently in the corporate records presented under Article II, including documents involving Gencorp Industries Inc. and Metro City Chow Foods Corp.
Records taken up during the impeachment proceedings showed Cruz and Duterte appearing in corporate documents involving Metro City Chow, while Cruz also appeared in records connected with Gencorp.
The prosecution has been seeking to establish how the companies and individuals appearing across Duterte’s corporate and wealth declarations are connected as part of its wider presentation on her alleged unexplained wealth and business interests.
The defense has challenged attempts to draw conclusions from those records without documentary proof directly establishing the relationships alleged by prosecutors.
Zamora indicated that the prosecution deliberately has not yet disclosed all the evidence it intends to use to answer that question.
Asked why prosecutors had not already presented the material establishing the link between Cruz and Duterte, Zamora replied: “Well, I think that’s something that I cannot disclose.”
The prosecution is still presenting Article II and has additional witnesses lined up to tackle corporate, procurement and financial records before it completes its alleged unexplained wealth case.
The senator-judges will ultimately determine what weight to give the evidence after the prosecution completes its presentation and Duterte’s defense is given the opportunity to rebut it.
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