WATCHING HIS BACK
PLUNDER TRIAL
In their push to question her credibility as a state witness, the lawyers of detained Senator Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada yesterday confronted Ruby Tuason about the 89 bank accounts that she supposedly opened.
Estrada told reporters that the list of bank accounts that his lawyers have came from the subpoenaed documents of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) also conducted inquiries into her accounts and properties.
“The witness has a lot of money, kickbacks from PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund) and I assume more on the Malampaya,” Estrada told reporters yesterday morning following his bail hearing at the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division.
During the cross examination conducted by Estrada lawyer, Atty. Sabino Acut, Tuason said she got a 45-million loan from the East West Bank with her home at Dasmariñas Village, Makati City as collateral so she could issue a check for 40 million to the government, which represents the amount she received from the PDAF scam.
“Bago pa man siya nagtestify marami na siyang bank accounts (before she made her testimonies she already has many bank accounts),” said Estrada, who even recounted that Tuason even testified before Senate Blue Ribbon Committee that the only asset she has is her home, which she could use to pay back the government.
With the numerous bank accounts that were found by the AMLC, Estrada pointed out that “so ibig sabihin hindi na siya kailangan magbenta ng kanyang properties para mabayaran yung gobyerno (She does not even have to sell her properties to pay the government.”
“Forty million pesos is small compared with what she got from the Malampaya scam,” the senator quipped.
When she was asked by Acut to confirm the existence of the bank accounts, Tuason replied that she did not have more than 80 accounts at one given time.
“Eighty banks all at one time? I dont think so,” she said.
The witness explained that the bank accounts were opened as a result of money placement as she sought to invest her funds.
With the documents from the AMLC, Acut also asked her if she owns to two houses in the United States, a sixbedroom residence that she bought and named under her children in Las Vegas and a four-bedroom house in California that is registered to her.
Tuason explained that the house used in Las Vegas was bought using corporation money of a company she identified as Deltas, while, she only owns a fourth of the property in California.
When asked about shares she has in four corporations, she assured that the she only has one stock.