Ombudsman goes after Corona’s PSBank accounts
The Ombudsman has summoned an official of Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) to testify on the bank documents pertaining to millions of deposits of ousted Chief Justice Renato Corona.
In a request for issuance of a subpoena, the Office of the Special Prosecutor asked the Sandiganbayan to summon branch manager Mary Annabelle Tiongson to a conference at the Ombudsman on Feb. 11 to bring the bank documents pertaining to Corona’s peso and dollar accounts.
The prosecution wants the bank official to testify on the authenticity of PSBank’s June 2012 letter to tax chief Kim Henares informing her of Corona’s accounts from 2002 to 2011.
The PSBank also furnished Henares a copy of the bank certifications showing the opening and ending balance account and its corresponding transactions under Corona’s name.
The letter dated June 2012 was signed by PSBank president Pascual Garcia.
Henares in a May 2012 letter to PSBank requested “certified copies of the bank statements indicating the transactions on (Renato Corona and wife Cristina Corona’s) accounts for years 2002 up to (2012).”
The bank certifications showed that Corona had a dollar savings account which was opened in 2008 and closed on Dec. 15, 2011. It last contained $3,927.54 as of Dec. 31, 2010.
Corona also had a dollar time deposit which was opened in 2008 with an amount of $768,733.96 and closed on Dec. 15, 2011, with a balance of $769,681.71.
Corona also has two peso time deposit accounts. One was opened in 2009 with a balance of P8.5 million and closed on Dec. 12, 2011, with an amount of P12.988 million.
The second peso time deposit account was opened in 2010 with a balance of P7.09 million and closed on Dec. 12, 2011, with an amount of P7.397 million.
All accounts were under the name Renato Coronado Corona.
The accounts were closed on and after the day Corona was impeached by the House of Representatives on charges of betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption and culpable violation of the Constitution on Dec. 12, 2012.
READ: Corona admits withdrawing PSBank deposits the day he was impeached
Corona would later be impeached by the Senate in May 2012 on false declarations of wealth.
PSBank had one of the 82 dollar accounts of Corona where he allegedly stashed more than $12 million in fresh deposits, or those that did not move, from 2003 to 2012, including the period when he was facing an impeachment trial on false declarations of wealth.
It was Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales who revealed this finding of the Anti-Money Laundering Council before the Senate impeachment court in May 2012.
READ: Corona keeping $12M in 5 banks–Ombudsman
The Ombudsman is looking into Corona’s dollar and peso accounts as it is prosecuting him and his wife Cristina over a P130.59 million civil forfeiture case.
So far, the antigraft court is able to freeze at least P10,354.98 cash in the bank accounts of Corona and his wife, according to its three reports on the preliminary writ of attachment to put on hold Corona’s estate, real and personal properties, as well as cash on bank with total worth of P130.59 million.
The writ has an effect of a freeze order to ensure that the respondents do not dispense of their properties as they face the charges.
READ: Total garnished money from impeached CJ Corona so far: P10,000
The court had also temporarily frozen the following properties of the Corona couple which were allegedly undervalued or undeclared: Condominium units at One Burgundy Plaza in Quezon City; The Columns in Makati; Bellagio I in Fort Bonifacio (including three parking slots); and Bonifacio Ridge, Fort Bonifacio, as well as a parcel of land at La Vista in Quezon city.
On top of the civil forfeiture case, Corona also faces eight counts of perjury and another eight counts of violations of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees for alleged underdeclarations of wealth in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).
READ: Sandigan finds probable cause to put Corona on trial for perjury
During its investigation, the Ombudsman said from 2001 to 2011, Corona and his spouse earned a total of P30.4 million, of which P27.1 million was earned by Corona as an official at the Office of the President, a Supreme Court justice, member of the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) and member of the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET).
His wife Cristina, on the other hand, earned P3.2 million from 2007 to 2010 based on the Alpha List submitted to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) by the John Hay Development Corp. (JHDC) where she was employed.
From 2002 to 2010, Corona’s cash deposits ballooned from P1.34 million to P137.9 million, the resolution said.
By 2010, the cumulative discrepancy between his SALN declaration and his actual cash deposits had amounted to P134.4 million. RC
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