THE House prosecution panel on Monday asserted that Vice President Sara Z. Duterte allegedly did not disclose certain time deposits in her statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) for 2019, 2020 and 2022.
Counsel for the panel of House prosecutors Mae Divinagracia made the assertion in the course of her direct examination of prosecution witness lawyer Ronel Buenaventura, executive director of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) secretariat.
Buenaventura has submitted to the Senate impeachment court a summary of “covered” and “suspicious” financial transactions of the Vice President and her husband Manases Carpio for 2007 up to 2025.
Divinagracia asked him to confirm transactions made by the Vice President in Philippine Savings Bank-Wilson branch, which the prosecution counsel mentioned one after the other.
The first was made on Dec. 26, 2018, and involved two transactions in the amount of P1,945,265.88 and P1,981,263.25.
Buenaventura said the first amount was a “time deposit credit memo or placement,” while the second was a “time deposit credit memo or termination.”
She then proceeded to the transaction dated Dec. 28, 2020 in the same PSBank branch in the amount of P2,005,340.22, which the AMLC official described as a “time deposit debit memo” and an equal amount as “time deposit credit memo.”
Buenaventura had the same answer for a transaction in the amount of P2,013,498.18 made on Dec. 23, 2021, calling it as a “time deposit debit memo” and an equal amount as “time deposit credit memo.”
He had the same description for a time deposit reported by PSBank-Wilson on Sept. 22, 2022 amounting to P2,020,879.39.
It was at this point that Divinagracia said the prosecution intended to prove using the Vice President’s SALNs and other documents that have already been presented to the impeachment court that the PSBank time deposits were not declared by the respondent in her SALNs for 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022.
Defense counsel protested the prosecution counsel’s remark as “improper,” but impeachment court presiding officer Senator-Judge Francis Escudero ruled that he was allowing the statement to remain in the record.
Escudero however cautioned Divinagracia against making similar assertions.
metrosundaily
