Corona used his family as ‘dummies’ to hide ill-gotten wealth–Prosecution

MANILA, Philippines — Three properties amounting to P45 million were allegedly put by Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona in the name of his daughter supposedly to hide his ill-gotten wealth, the chief of the prosecution team in the impeachment trial disclosed on Monday.

This and other revelations of how Corona allegedly acquired his wealth would be the prosecution’s next ammunition against the Chief Justice, lead prosecutor and Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. said.

“In the succeeding hearings, we will know, we will show that he (Corona) has no capacity to purchase these properties except through graft and corruption,” Tupas said in an interview over the phone, referring to the reported properties allegedly owned by Corona.

“Ayoko nang sabihin yung details (I don’t want to disclose the details) but this I can disclose to you – that they acquired those properties through graft and corruption, that they are ill-gotten wealth,” Tupas said.

Tupas said the prosecution will also prove that Corona used his spouse and children as “dummies” to hide his ill-gotten wealth.

“We will prove that the children – mainly Carla Corona-Castillo and Maria Charina Corona have no capacity to purchase those properties,” he pointed out.

Tupas said Carla and his husband, Constantino, could not afford to buy the three properties even if the latter is a doctor or even if they have a business.

Tupas said the prosecution team already presented in the impeachment trial last week two of three properties allegedly belonging to Carla Corona-Castillo.

The impeachment trial resumes on Tuesday after a four-day break, with the prosecution hoping to present Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares as a witness.

Also at the resumption of the trial, Tupas said the prosecution would insist that this allegation of ill-gotten wealth by the Corona family is part of Article 2 of the articles of impeachment pertaining to the Chief Justice’s alleged failure to disclose his statement of asset, liabilities and net worth (SALN).

“It’s there, Cuevas just read the paragraph that he wants to read and he did not read the whole paragraph of Article 2,” said Tupas, referring to Corona’s lead counsel, former Supreme Court Associate Justice Serafin Cuevas.

“We alleged that he did not disclose his SALN because he’s hiding something. Based on what we have –yung 1992 to 2002– it’s highly improbable for him to acquire properties that we already know from 2003 until the present with his means, with his income,” he further said.