JV files raps vs prosecutors

For opening his bank account without his consent, they now face criminal lawsuits.

San Juan Mayor Jose Victor Ejercito formally filed criminal charges yesterday against the prosecutors in the plunder trial of his father, former President Joseph Estrada, for "opening" his bank account without his consent.

"After 66 witnesses used in the plunder case against my father, the government prosecutors are desperately including me in the charges," Ejercito said, adding that "until now, the prosecutors have failed to produce credible arguments and prove their allegations."

In his complaint filed before the Office of the Ombudsman by lawyer Rufus Rodriguez, Ejercito accused prosecutors Assistant Ombudsman Dennis Villa-Ignacio, Alexander Padilla, Robert Kallos, Humphrey Monteroso, Antonio Manzano, Raymundo Julio Olaguer and John Turalba of violating the Bank Secrecy Law.

Ejercito said he is protected by the Bank Secrecy Law and, thus, could not be compelled to divulge details regarding his bank account before the courts.

"I will not take these desperate actions just sitting down," Ejercito said. "What they have been doing to my family from the very beginning is clearly political harassment."

The town mayor said he filed the case not just for his own sake, but to protect the rights of ordinary citizens whose right to privacy are protected by the bank law.

"The prosecutors have resorted to all means, even stepping on the laws, just to continuously harass President Estrada and his family," Ejercito said in a statement.

The Sandiganbayan special division trying the Estrada plunder case earlier issued a subpoena for information on Ejercito’s account after a prosecution witness said P189 million was taken out of Ejercito’s account and deposited in the Equitable-PCIBank account of Jose Velarde, believed to actually belong to Estrada.

Ejercito’s special account 858, which was opened in January, 1991, was transferred to the Export and Industry Bank after it merged with Urban Bank.

Villa-Ignacio said they had evidence to show that a portion of the money was transferred to the Jose Velarde account, where Estrada’s reported ill-gotten wealth from the illegal numbers game jueteng was allegedly kept.