Bank official blows lid on Estrada account

A senior Philippine bank official told President Joseph Estrada's impeachment trial yesterday that her boss ordered her last month to cover up the president's ownership of a rich account under a false name.

Clarissa Ocampo, senior vice president of Equitable PCI Bank, said then bank Chairman George Go, a close friend of Estrada, told her to prepare new documents to replace original papers showing a multi-million dollar account belonged to a certain Jose Velarde.

She said the name Jose Velarde, linked to at least one other large transaction, was an alias used by Estrada. Ocampo said she was told to prepare the new documents on December 12, after the impeachment trial began.

The papers were signed inside the office of defence lawyer Estelito Mendoza on December 13, said Ocampo. Ocampo said she went to Mendoza's law firm to sign the papers. "Dichaves was there. I witnessed the signing. It was done in the office of lawyer Estelito Mendoza," said Ocampo, adding that Go and Mendoza were inside the room when the signing took place.

"That concerned me a lot. They needed a letter of authority allowing the president to transfer his rights (on the Velarde account) to Mr Dichaves," said Ocampo. This transfer of rights was one of the reasons why she decided to testify, she emphasised.

"I was not summoned by the prosecution," she said, adding she voluntarily offered her testimony on December 21, after the board of the Equitable PCIBank had decided to reveal the bank records of the controversial account.

Ocampo said the defence did not contact her to stop giving testimony before the impeachment court on December 22. But she told Estrada's corruption trial, which resumed yesterday after an 11-day break, that she decided to testify against the president because she was "afraid of my life and the security of my family."

When asked why she was afraid, she said "because this is the government, this is Malacanang (the presidential palace)." "Especially after the bombings, I was really very concerned," she said, referring to five almost-simultaneous bomb explosions across Manila on Saturday which killed at least 15 people and injured about 100 others.

In a statement after Ocampo's testimony, Mendoza said however that he did not witness the signing, adding that Go and Dichaves went to his law firm unannounced and without an appointment. "I was not around when the signing took place. When I left them at the conference room, they said they wanted to use my office for some transaction," said Mendoza, Earlier, Ocampo said when she went to the law firm, she met her former classmate, Mendoza's daughter, who introduced her to the lawyer.

Mendoza, however, said: "She was in my office on December 15. She was not introduced to me by my daughter. She introduced herself. I have absolutely no knowledge of the trust arrangement between Go and Dichaves."

In a passionate speech, Mendoza said: "If the president will allow, I am prepared to withdraw from the case because it has impaired my own welfare. I have not solicited the case, in the same way that I have not solicited a case before. The case is a difficult case because of politics."

He admitted that he and his family had received death threats, including suggestions from friends that he should withdraw. "That problem, he (Mendoza) must address himself," said Prosecutor Joker Arroyo, hinting that there is a move from the prosecution to prevent Mendoza from defending Estrada because of his assistance in an attempt to change the ownership of the Jose Velarde account.

The transaction to change the ownership of Velarde to that of Dichaves occurred four days after Prosecutor Arroyo revealed the existence of the said cheque at the opening of the impeachment trial against Estrada on December 7.

Lawyer Manuel Lazaro, representing Dichaves, filed a motion to quash the opening of envelopes which contained bank records of Jose Velarde. "All these motions were filed five days after the meeting of Go, Dichaves, and Ocampo at the office of Mendoza," said Senator Sergio Osmena.