HOUSE Prosecutor and Akbayan Party-list Rep. Chel Diokno offered forensic financial analyst Atty. Alexander B. Cabrera as an expert witness to bring together the bank, tax, corporate and asset records presented in Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial.
Diokno’s first offer concerned Cabrera’s qualifications.
A certified public accountant and lawyer experienced in financial audits, reviews and investigations, Cabrera would trace transactions, compare income with assets and identify differences among financial documents.
“Sa madaling salita, Your Honors, expertise po niya ang sundan ang pera,” Diokno told the Senate impeachment court on October 9.
The second offer identified the records Cabrera examined: Duterte’s Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs), Income Tax Returns (ITR) and other tax records, bank and Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) reports, corporate documents, audited financial statements, and official or publicly available records.
In the third offer, Diokno said Cabrera used financial analysis, transaction tracing, reconciliation and accounting methods to compare documented income and sources of funds with assets, investments, transactions and business interests.
“He used recognized financial and accounting methods to test whether these records reconcile,” Diokno said.
The fourth offer set out the prosecution’s proposed conclusions.
Diokno said Cabrera would support its claim that Duterte’s 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 SALNs were untruthful because substantial assets belonging to her and her husband were not reported.
He also offered Cabrera’s analysis to support the claim that Duterte “during her vice presidency, continued to participate in various businesses.”
In the offer of testimony, Diokno placed the alleged unexplained-wealth amount at ₱818.87 million.
He said the estimate was based on the limited documents examined and excluded records still held by Duterte and her spouse.
He also outlined the prosecution’s claim of a year-on-year pattern of violations and said other laws may have been breached.
Cabrera had not yet explained the calculation or those conclusions in the portion of the hearing covered by the offer.
Finally, Diokno offered to establish Cabrera’s credibility as the expert who would analyze records introduced by earlier witnesses.
“Hindi po siya yung tipong expert na pinulot lang kung saan-saan,” he said.
Those witnesses presented the underlying SALNs, corporate filings, firearms records, financial transaction reports, bank and insurance records, and BIR documents.
Diokno described Cabrera’s role in one line: “Attorney Cabrera will connect the dots and provide this court with the big picture.”
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