Sandigan asked to subpoena bank execs on Corona case

MANILA, Philippines – The Office of the Ombudsman has asked the Sandiganbayan to subpoena officials of Deutsche Bank AG Manila as possible witnesses in the P130-million forfeiture case against former chief justice Renato Corona.

In a motion filed before the anti-graft court’s Second Division, ombudsman prosecutors said executives of the bank should be summoned to authenticate documents in relation to the alleged dollar accounts of Corona.

Government lawyers asked Sandiganbayan clerk of court Irene Estonilo-Palmero to issue subpoena for the bank’s chief country officer Enrico Cruz and direct securities services chief Celia Orbeta.

Ombudsman prosecutors want the Deutsche Bank officers to attend the conference at 9 a.m. on Feb. 11.

The bank officials will be asked to authenticate copies of a letter dated June 2012 from Deutsche Bank AG Manila branch to Bureau of Internal Revenue chief Kim Henares pertaining to Corona’s dollar deposits supposedly amounting to $167,000 from 2002 to 2011.

Citing a report by the Anti-Money Laundering Council, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales disclosed during Corona’s impeachment proceedings in the Senate that the former chief justice had more than $12 million in deposits that did not move from 2003 to 2012.

The Sandiganbayan has issued a freeze order on Corona’s properties and bank accounts. But the court was able to freeze only P10,354 in cash.