Chief Justice Renato Corona. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines–Chief Justice Renato Corona branded as “lantern of lies” the testimony Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales and dared her to resign if they prove her wrong.
In a statement, the Chief Justice said the allegations that he has 82 dollar accounts is “quite unfortunate, if not very malicious.”
“I do not know how she came up with her own mathematical equation. She made a hodgepodge out of the accounts, making her numbers chaotic… The number of accounts alone is at best ridiculous. Her powerpoint diagram is a lantern of lies which only messed up her presentation, contrary to what some believe now as damning evidence.”
“Either she does not know what she is talking about or is purposely misleading the Impeachment Court and the public. Is she even privy to how the AMLC arrived at the bloated numbers? We will debunk all her bloated numbers. And once she is proven wrong, I urge her to immediately resign from her post for allowing herself to be used by this Administration and making a laughingstock of ‘government auditing.’”
The AMLC is the Anti-Money Laundering Council.
Based on her own analysis of a report furnished to her by the AMLC, 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.
Morales said Corona’s dollar accounts were spread in various banks in the country; eight accounts in Bank of the Philippine Island (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 Corporation; one in Citibank; and two in Deutsche bank.
Morales and four others were subpoenaed by the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court in connection with the $10 million bank deposit allegedly owned by the Chief Justice.
The four were Akbayan Representative Walden Bello, Akbayan spokesperson Risa Hontiveros, civil society leader Harvey Keh and Emmanuel Tiu Santos, complainants in a case filed against Corona before the Office of the Ombudsman.