‘Go must explain Velarde account’

Resigned Equitable-PCIBank chairman George Ling Go has a lot of explaining to do about the Jose Velarde account which prosecutors claim belongs to President Estrada, Makati Rep. Joker Arroyo said yesterday.

"(Go) should tell the public who this Velarde is since he was the one who endorsed this mysterious person to his bank’s Binondo (Manila) branch," said Arroyo, one of the 11 congressmen prosecuting Mr. Estrada in his impeachment trial.

Arroyo said Go should also explain why normal banking practices were not followed when Jose Velarde opened an account with Equitable-PCIBank.

Marinduque Rep. Edmundo Reyes, spokesman for the prosecution panel, said the former Equitable-PCIBank chairman and other bank officials should tell the public all they know about the controversial account and other related accounts.

"Unless they do this, suspicions of possible cover-up will linger in the minds of the people," Reyes said.

However, House Minority Leader Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said it is still "premature" to accuse Equitable-PCIBank of tampering with bank documents.

"All we can conclude at this point is that there is a noticeable disparity between the signatures appearing on the specimen signature card of Jose Velarde and the signature appearing on the microfilmed copy of Velarde’s check for P142 million used to pay for the Boracay mansion," Belmonte said.

The so-called Boracay mansion is a property in Quezon City which the President allegedly bought for former actress Laarni Enriquez, one of his acknowledged mistresses.

Belmonte added that the issue will only be settled when the prosecution brings in its international handwriting expert to examine Velarde’s signatures.

"These will be compared with signature and handwriting samples of both President Estrada and his friend Jaime Dichaves, the acknowledged owner of the Velarde account," he said.

Prosecutors were disappointed when the sealed envelope supposedly containing the bank records of a certain Jose Valhalla and which Equitable-PCIBank submitted to the impeachment court last week yielded no substantial information.

The envelope contained two signature cards reflecting the name Jose Velarde, not Jose Valhalla, an account number and the initials GLG (for George Ling Go, the bank’s chairman) and the client’s endorser.

The spaces for vital information about the depositor were left blank.

The envelope also contained bank statements which showed that Velarde had a balance of only about P5,000.

What they saw prompted prosecutors to conclude that the bank records had been tampered with.

Romeo Capulong, one of the lawyers of the private complainants in the impeachment complaint against the President, said the three specimen signatures on the cards appeared to have been made only recently as the ink looked fresh.

Misamis Oriental Rep. Oscar Moreno, another prosecutor, expressed doubts on the authenticity of the documents submitted by Equitable-PCIBank. "This is a sad day for the banking system," he said.

This developed as the prosecution panel appealed to the President to "admit" certain things it already presented in the first 11 days of the trial so as to expedite the proceedings.

Leyte Rep. Sergio Apostol, another House prosecutor, said the President should admit the following so he will no longer be compelled to present himself before the tribunal to explain his side:

• That he had close relationship with Orestes and Yolanda Ricaforte, Charlie "Atong" Ang, Rodolfo "Bong" Pineda, Lucio Co, George Go, Jaime Dichavez and Jesus Pineda.

• That lawyer Edward Serapio was his personal lawyer and that he requested him to set up certain "dummy" corporations, including the Erap Muslim Youth Foundation.

• That he instructed Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson to give P100,000 each to Cabinet members Lenny de Jesus and Jerry Barican and P1 million each to senators Tessie Aquino-Oreta and John Osmeña as balato or tip from his gambling winnings.

• That the Erap Youth Foundation which supposedly received millions of pesos from the illegal numbers game jueteng does not have any office, has not sent any scholar to local or foreign schools and does not have employees.

• And that his personal auditor Yolanda Ricaforte opened specified accounts in certain branches of Equitable-PCIBank.

Apostol said they have sent the President a 13-page letter on the aforementioned allegations. He noted that if the President would admit such things as true, then the prosecution will no longer call further witnesses to prove them.

"As far as we’re concerned, we have already proven a prima facie case against the President through the testimonies of Singson, Menchu Itchon, and Emma Lim," he said.