Defense: Info in leaked documents could still be inaccurate

MANILA, Philippines—Even if it is proven that the photocopied documents received by Oriental Mindoro Representative Reynaldo Umali and Quezon City Representative Jorge Banal were leaked from the Philippine Savings Bank, the accuracy of the information provided in the documents could still be questionable.

Defense counsel Rico Paolo Quicho on Tuesday said that it was not enough for the documents to be proven to have been leaked from the bank. “It does not necessarily mean na tama ang laman kung totoong leaked document ito, may pinuntahan ang dokumento na ’yan from the person who leaked it, to the persons who received it, to Banal or Umali. Mayroon itong chain of custody. Huwag munang husgahan agad na porke’t leaked document ay accurate na ang laman nito.”

Reacting to the BSP’s denial on Monday that they accessed the chief magistrate’s bank records, Quicho said “the denial is very convenient but between the testimony of the witness na sinumpaan at sinubscribe under oath, siguro mas mabigat ang testimonya [ng witness].” But he said that it was also important to hear out what BSP and AMLC have to say about the issue.

He said that Jerry Leal, identified by PSBank president Pascual Garcia III as the AMLC representative present in the audit conducted on their bank in September to November 2010, was invited to shed light on the leaked document.

Garcia on Monday told the impeachment court that an audit team of BSP with an examiner from AMLC conducted an audit of PSBank from September to November 2010 and targeted several bank records, one of them the chief justice’s.

The photocopied documents attached by the prosecution to their supplementary request for subpoena for information on Corona’s bank records, as well the photocopied documents that Banal was supposed to have found outside his home, have drawn much attention from the impeachment court, which is looking into the possibility that the documents were leaked from the bank.