Estrada, 10 in Velarde case face plunder

Ousted President Joseph Estrada and 10 people who deposited millions of pesos in the "Jose Velarde" account were charged with plunder yesterday before the Office of the Ombudsman.

The names of the respondents were culled from documents in the controversial second envelope submitted by Equitable PCI Bank to the Senate tribunal that conducted the aborted impeachment trial of Estrada.

Among them were Jaime Dichaves, his wife Abby Dichaves, Mark Jimenez, Manuel Pangilinan, George Go, Dante Tan, Kelvin Garcia, William Gatchalian, and lawyers Fernando Chua and Antonio Evangelista.

Documents showed that Estrada, using the false name Jose Velarde, maintained a secret bank account with Equitable PCI which once held as much as P3.3 billion, but was emptied on Nov. 13 last year.

The case filed yesterday was the ninth plunder suit lodged against the disgraced leader by private complainants led by members of three lawyers’ groups.

It was received by Overall Deputy Ombudsman Margarito Gervacio Jr.

The businessman-allies of Estrada were cited as co-conspirators for having contributed huge amounts to the Velarde account.

The bank records indicated that the Dichaveses deposited a total of P209.7 million in the Velarde account; Jimenez, P180 million, Pangilinan, P20 million; Tan, P300 million; Garcia, P180 million; and Evangelista, P40 million.

The contributions of Go, Co and Gatchalian have yet to be determined.

The account was opened on Aug. 26, 1999 with a minimal deposit of only P1, swelled the next day to P81 million, then ballooned P3.3 billion in 15 months.

In filing the case, the complainants cited the "great disparity" between Estrada’s declared income and the deposits in the Velarde account, indicating that the funds were ill-gotten.

While the lawyers conceded that there was no criminal intent for amassing such fortune, "the fact that Estrada, being a public officer... suffices to be the reason for the bribe."

"Thus, Estrada and his co-conspirators took advantage of their position, connection and influence and unjustly enriched themselves and/or Estrada with ill-gotten wealth in an amount exceeding P50 million, eroding public trust and confidence, to the damage and prejudice of the Filipino people," the 12-page complaint said.

The eighth plunder charge was filed earlier on behalf of former Social Security System (SSS) chairman Carlos Arellano, former Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) general manager Federico Pascual and Belle Corp. director William Ocier who divulged that Estrada pocketed P189.7 million in kickbacks in government investments in Belle Corp.

The seventh plunder case was filed by Jimenez who offered to be a government witness. Jimenez claimed he gave a total of P346 million to the former president.

Jimenez asserted that Estrada either demanded for money or asked for loans which he never bothered to pay back.

Apart from plunder which is a capital offense in the country, Estrada is also facing a host of criminal charges such as technical malversation, bribery, perjury, falsification of documents and unexplained wealth.

The six other plunder suits were initiated by the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, Graft Free Philippines, Clear, Clamor and Ouster, as well as former Tourism Secretary Jose Antonio Gonzales and private lawyers Ernesto Francisco and Ramon Gonzales.

The cases stemmed from the alleged P430-million jueteng payoffs, the P130-million kickback in tobacco excise tax, the P500-million trust account of Velarde in Equitable-PCI, kickbacks from the P2.4-billion coastal road project, and the botched takeover of the Mimosa estate at Clark Field in Pampanga and the acquisition of seven palatial homes for his numerous mistresses.

Also cited as respondents in the cases were former First Lady Dr. Luisa Ejercito, her son San Juan Mayor Jinggoy Estrada, certain members of the Estrada Cabinet, and some of his allies.

The respondents, totaling 24, have been banned from leaving the country.

Dichaves acted as a special confidant of Estrada, while Jimenez once served as Presidential Consultant on Latin-American Affairs.

Pangilinan was president of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., Go was former president of Equitable PCI, Tan was a majority stockholder of the Best World Resources, Co was owner of Puregold Ent., Gatchalian owned the Wellex Group while Evangelista was architect of Erap City.

Government prosecutors in the failed impeachment trial of Estrada alleged that he amassed P10 billion to P15 billion during his 31-month stay in power.

Government prosecutors set for indictment

State prosecutors were getting ready for possible indictments against Estrada as a month-long Supreme Court restraining order neared its expiry date.

Gervacio said his office was preparing a formal report on investigations on 10 corruption complaints against Estrada who was ousted last Jan. 20 at the climax of a five-day military-backed people power II.

Gervacio said he was to meet with a group of private lawyers yesterday to iron out kinks in the report.

"At this moment, we cannot for certain say whether or not there will be an indictment," Gervacio said.

A decision on whether to indict Estrada would be announced on March 24, a day after the SC restraining order expires.

The High Tribunal granted Estrada a 30-day stay of the filing of the charges pending resolution of his petition questioning the legality of the Arroyo administration.

Estrada insisted that he remained the duly elected president and that Mrs. Arroyo was merely occupying his post in an acting capacity.

Voting 13-0, the SC upheld the legitimacy of the new President.

Estrada’s lawyer, former Sen. Rene Saguisag, said they would file on Monday a motion for reconsideration.

Although he acknowledged the difficulty of pursuing their case since it would be tantamount to asking the SC to admit it made a mistake in the March 2 decision, he asserted "from the standpoint of law, it’s really a ‘super strong’ case."

Estrada has until Monday to file his motion for reconsideration.

Court officials clarified that while the 15-day prescribed period for the filing of the appeal fell on Saturday when courts are closed, the motion would be accepted on the next working day, which is Monday.

Meanwhile, Yolanda Ricaforte, alleged personal auditor of Estrada who handled the jueteng bribes, and her husband, former Tourism Undersecretary Orestes Ricaforte, have reportedly sent feelers to turn state witnesses.

The Ricaforte couple fled to the United States during the impeachment trial.

A source told The STAR the Ricafortes have been on the move to evade unknown enemies.

"They have been moving from place to place. They have been in hiding," the source said, adding that the couple slept with friends and relatives in the US most of the time.

The source added that the Ricafortes have run into financial problems that prevented them from coming home earlier.

The couple have reportedly approached a Philippine Embassy official regarding their desire to make a clean breast of what they knew about Estrada’s alleged misdeeds.

Aside from being Estrada’s auditor, Ricaforte was also appointed board director of Campo Carne, a subsidiary of San Miguel Corp., upon the former president’s endorsement. - With Edith Regalado