Ombudsman to US: Let Jimenez stay here

The evidence Congressman-elect Mark Jimenez would provide for the prosecution could make or break the government plunder case against former President Joseph Estrada.

Ombudsman Aniano Desierto said the prosecution will thus ask the US to allow Jimenez to stay and give his testimony to the Sandiganbayan, if and when Jimenez’s extradition case is decided by the courts.

Desierto said the prosecution panel might encounter problems in the presentation of evidence if Jimenez would not be able to testify.

"If he (Jimenez) is not here, we (the prosecution) will have some problems in the presentation of evidence before the court. But if there will be an extradition, we will ask the US government to allow him to stay here and give his testimony," Desierto told reporters.

Desierto said Jimenez’s testimony will give weight to the testimony of officials of Equitable-PCI Bank, who earlier revealed that Estrada and Jose Velarde, the owner of the multibillion-peso account in the bank, were one and the same person.

The amount was supposed to have been the commission earned by the former president in a series of financing transactions involving bank mergers, among others.

"The testimony of Jimenez would reinforce the testimony of Equitable bank officials Clarissa Ocampo and Manuel Curato, the two key witnesses in the Estrada plunder case," Desierto said.

It was Ocampo and Curato who testified during the impeachment trial last year that they saw Mr. Estrada sign bank documents with the name "Jose Velarde."

Earlier, Jimenez, together with former Social Security System (SSS) president Carlos Arellano and former Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) chairman Federico Pascual testified against the former president for allegedly receiving P189 million in commissions when the government bought shares of Belle Corp. worth P7.8 billion.

Jimenez also filed a separate plunder case against Estrada for allegedly forcing him to hand over a total of P346 million to the ousted president.

Jimenez said he was forced to issue huge sums of money to Estrada from Dec. 25, 1998 to Aug. 7, 2000. He said in his affidavit submitted earlier this year that Estrada borrowed huge sums of money from him and never paid him back.