World | India
Impeachment court seeks Chief Justice's bank account details
Lawyers defending Supreme Court chief Justice Renato Corona in a number of cases involving the country's highest judicial officer has appealed to the high tribunal to put a stop to the impeachment trial
- By Gilbert P. Felongco, Correspondent
- Published: 15:56 February 8, 2012
Manila: Lawyers defending Supreme Court chief Justice Renato Corona in a number of cases involving the country's highest judicial officer has appealed to the high tribunal to put a stop to the impeachment trial.
In his appeal to the Supreme Court, Serafin Cuevas, lead defence counsel of Corona, said the case filed by the House of Representatives against Corona had been flawed from the start.
"After giving due course to the Petition, render judgement declaring the Impeachment Complaint null and void ab initio (void from the beginning)," the appeal to the Supreme Court said.
The Philippine Supreme Court is made up of 15 Justices and the chief magistrate is currently on trial by the Senate for supposed unconstitutional acts, abuse of discretion and committing graft and corruption among others.
In the petition filed by Cuevas, a former high court Associate Justice himself, Corona asked the Supreme Court to prevent the Senate from forcing banks to produce the Chief Justices' bank records.
The bank records involved Corona's deposits with the PS Bank and the Bank of Philippine Island.
According to Corona's petition, the Impeachment Court should continue with the trial on the basis of the impeachment complaint which was "riddled with constitutional defects too numerous to withstand even cursory legal scrutiny."
"Undoubtedly, public admissions by members of the House of Representatives declared that there was no opportunity to read the complaint. They also declared that the majority of signatories signed without reading the Complaint but reputably in exchange for material considerations," Corona's petition as put forward by Cuevas said.
Pivotal
Corona's petition is pivotal not only in his impeach trial but also for the country's banking system. During the impeachment trial of Corona on Wednesday, bank officials tried to stonewall attempts by the Senate to reveal the details of the officials' bank accounts.
Pascual Garcia III, president of the PS Bank, took the witness stand but refused to provide to the impeachment court the details of Corona's bank account as he said that he did not bring the documents required
Garcia, during the trial, repeatedly invoked the bank's confidentiality commitment with its depositors under the secrecy law.
The impeachment court was convened last mid-December after 188 of the 285-member House of Representative found sufficient grounds to subject Corona to an impeachment trial.
Under the country's set up, the Senate body stands as judge in the trial of Supreme Court chief justice Corona.
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