Estrada threatens to charge Ocampo for breaking bank secrecy law

Being a star witness in a celebrated case has its price.

Court-appointed lawyers of jailed former President Joseph Estrada said yesterday they might file criminal charges against prosecution star witness Clarissa Ocampo for alleged violation of the Bank Secrecy Law.

Lawyers Prospero Crescini and Irene Jurado said Ocampo, who testified anew yesterday that Estrada had opened savings and current accounts with Equitable PCI under the false name "Jose Velarde," could be held liable for divulging before the court confidential bank transactions.

Virtually reiterating her testimony in the Senate impeachment trial in December 2000, Ocampo told the Sandiganbayan hearing four criminal cases against Estrada, including the capital offense of plunder, that the fallen leader signed bank documents as Jose Velarde at least 15 times.

"We can file a case of violation of the Bank Secrecy Law against Ms. Ocampo. But we will do that not at this time, but after the trial of all the cases of former President Estrada because we don’t want to be accused of harassing witnesses," Crescini said.

For her part, Jurado said Ocampo should have sought the consent of the owner of the Jose Velarde account before she revealed the affected transactions before the court as provided for by the law.

"The subpoena issued by the court only asked Ms. Ocampo to present documents pertaining to her testimony during the impeachment trial," Jurado said.

Meanwhile, Crescini asked the anti-graft court’s special division hearing Estrada’s cases to direct the prosecution panel to submit to the court and furnish the defense copies of the second set of bank documents regarding the Velarde accounts.

Crescini claimed that the second set of documents including papers proving that controversial businessman and Estrada ally Jaime Dichaves was the actual owner of the Jose Velarde accounts.

"Dichaves signed (some papers) admitting that he is Jose Velarde and he owned the account," Crescini said.

However, the prosecution panel headed by Assistant Ombudsman Dennis Villa-Ignacio said that the second set of documents, believed to be in Ocampo’s possession, would work more for the benefit of the prosecution because it included a document where Estrada indicated his plan to transfer a P500 million trust account to Dichaves.

"They (defense lawyers) are the ones who requested for it. I hope they would not withhold such request," Villa-Ignacio said.

Ocampo was originally scheduled to testify before the Sandiganbayan special division chaired by Justice Minita Chico-Nazario last Monday, but the defense succeeded in delaying her testimony by a protracted cross-examination of the latest prosecution witness.

As expected, yesterday’s hearing turned out to be a mere reenactment of an emotion-charged drama on her Dec. 23, 2000 testimony at the failed impeachment trial.

Ocampo, former senior vice president and trust officer of Equitable PCI Bank, reiterated that Estrada and the mysterious "Jose Velarde" are one and the same person.

She told the court that she was sitting "one foot away" from Estrada when he signed on Feb. 4, 2000 three copies of an investment management agreement and other documents as "Jose Velarde."

Villa-Ignacio said they intend to pin down Estrada on accusations that he amassed an estimated P4 billion in bribes from illegal gambling operators and other forms of corruption.

Villa-Ignacio said Ocampo’s testimony would substantiate the charges that Jose Velarde was an alias used by the fallen president to stash ill-gotten wealth in the bank.

Ocampo said she was supposed to stamp her approval on the authenticity of Estrada’s signatures, but did not do so when he used an alias.

"I was really shocked and I was surprised when I saw him sign as Jose Velarde and that he is the president of the land and it was a substantial amount. The word Jose Velarde was already printed in the document," the witness said.

Ocampo also said she wanted to ask Estrada about the apparent irregularity, but she held back because of the presence of then Malacañang chief of staff Aprodicio Lacquian and lawyer Fernando Chua who represented Estrada.

She added that at least three other people were present during the signing. She identified them as Manuel Curato, chief of the Equitable PCI legal department, Chua and Lacquian who was eventually fired by Estrada.

Ocampo said the investment management agreement involved a loan of P500 million out of the Velarde account to the Wellex Group owned by Estrada ally William Gatchalian.

She also said Equitable PCI chairman George Go earlier instructed her to approve the proposed investment plan "within 18 hours."

Ocampo told the anti-graft court that the P500 million was subsequently debited from the Velarde account with serial number 0160-62501-5 and was credited to the account of the Wellex Group.

In a bid to demolish Ocampo’s testimony, Crescini insinuated that she testified against his client to save Equitable PCI from bankruptcy as it was experiencing heavy withdrawals.

Ocampo argued, however, that the issue was not within her department.

"I can only speak of the trust department because that is my area of responsibility. At that time, the trust withdrawals were more than normal," she said.