Corona ‘fresh deposits’ more than $12M—Ombudsman

Conchita Carpio-Morales ( Current Ombudsman of the Philippines ) SENATE POOL

MANILA, Philippines—Chief Justice Renato Corona has “fresh deposits” amounting to more than $12 million, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales on Monday told the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court.

“I think my computation which was arrived at with the assistance of a CPA (certified public accountant) lawyer is that fresh deposits, which means they never moved, they remained in that particular (account) amounted to more than 12 million dollars…,” Morales said, based on the report furnished to her by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).

Morales gave the statement when Senator Ferdinand “Bong-Bong” Marcos Jr. asked whether the total amount of Corona’s alleged dollar deposits in 82 accounts totaled $10 million.

“It’s even more,” said the Ombudsman in response to Marcos’ query.

Before this, Morales testified that Corona owned 82 US dollar accounts in five banks amounting to at least $10 million.

Citing the AMLC report, Morales said the Chief Justice also made “significant deposits and withdrawals on very significant dates.”

“The Chief Justice has at least $10 million in transactional balances. He has 82 US dollar accounts in five banks,” she said.

“There were significant deposits and withdrawals on very significant dates – during the 2004 and 2007 elections as well as the week he was impeached – December 12, 13, 15, 19, 20, and 22, 2011..,” she said.

Corona was impeached at the House of Representatives last December 12, 2011.

On the day he was impeached, Morales said Corona had a “time deposit for termination” of $418,193.32.

The said amount, she said, was added to a BPI account of Corona in San Francisco del Monte branch but that $417, 978.80 of the amount was placed in a regular fund placement.

Morales said Corona had only one dollar account in 2003, or a year before he was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court during the time of former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

But in 2004, Corona opened 13 more dollar accounts and additional nine in 2005, or a total of 23 dollar accounts from 2003 to 2005 alone.

In 2006, Corona opened additional 12 dollar accounts, 35 more in 2007 and another 14 accounts in 2008.

So by 2008, Morales said Corona had a total of 49 dollar accounts and added another 14 accounts in 2009, bringing the number to 63.

From 63 accounts, Morales said Corona again opened 12 dollar accounts in 2009 and six more accounts in 2010.
“In 2011, he had 81 dollar accounts, and he added one account; that gives a total of 82 dollar accounts,” said the Ombudsman.

Corona was appointed Chief Justice by Arroyo in 2010.

Morales said Corona’s dollar accounts were spread in various banks in the country—eight accounts in the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) in Acropolis, San Juan; 18 accounts in BP1-Tandang Sora; 34 in San Francisco del Monte; one in BPI Management Investment Corp.; eight in Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) in Cainta; six in PSBank Katipunan; four in Allied Bank Corp.; one in Citibank; and two in Deutsche Bank.

Commission on Audit Commissioner Heidi Mendoza, who was requested by the Ombudsman to take over and elaborate on her analysis, said the total “inflow”of Corona’s dollar accounts amounted to $28.740 million from April 2003 to December 2011.

The total “outflow” consisting of withdrawals, debit memos, purchases, electronic payment, and outward remittances, Mendoza said, amounted to $30.758 million.

“As you can observe, the withdrawal is bigger than the inflow simply because we have to emphasize that these are the transactions captured by the AMLC,” she said.

“We are trying to show the circuitous movement of funds…there are many accounts created and all of them are in the name of the respondent,” Mendoza added.

Asked about Corona’s bank transactions in peso, the Commissioner could not initially provide an answer but she later told the Senate, “The peso account I was told reached around 242 million.”

Mendoza did not give further details on Corona’s peso accounts.