Bank official’s testimony only bolsters Erap-Dichaves ties — prosecutor

The testimony of a former Equitable PCI Bank executive that the P3.2-billion Jose Velarde account does not belong to deposed President Joseph Estrada but to his business associate, Jaime Dichaves, only bolsters the case against Estrada, a government prosecutor said yesterday.

Chief Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa Ignacio explained that, assuming the testimony of Beatriz Bagsit, former first vice president of Equitable PCI Bank, is indeed true, the defense panel’s witness had only strengthened the government’s "theory of conspiracy" between Estrada and his cronies.

"You should remember that Dichaves is a co-conspirator of Estrada in the plunder case. And he is now the subject of an extradition request with the US where he is hiding," Villa Ignacio told The STAR. He insisted, though, that Bagsit’s testimony is "hearsay."

Bagsit told the Sandiganbayan on Monday that she "managed and handled" the controversial account but admitted her basis for concluding that Dichaves was the owner of the account was only a letter from her boss, executive vice president Romualdo Dy Tang.

"There was a letter he (Dy Tang) gave me that came from Dichaves stating that the account was opened in Binondo. He also instructed me that if he is out, I was to handle the account personally," Bagsit told the justices of the special division.

This prompted Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo to describe the testimony of the defense panel’s 32nd witness as "totally hearsay" because she was merely "relying" on documents that were given to her.

"Nobody knows if she’s opening it for somebody else," Marcelo said.

Estrada himself admitted to signing as Jose Velarde in an interview with Pia Hontiveros of ABS-CBN in February 2002 but later clarified that he had only done so on behalf of Dichaves.

Marcelo also questioned why, assuming Velarde was indeed Dichaves, San Juan Mayor Joseph Victor "JV" Ejercito, one of Estrada’s sons, had deposited P182 million from his Urban Bank account into the Velarde account.

"JV has no relation to Dichaves," Marcelo noted, adding that the signatures appearing in the documents presented by Estrada’s lawyer Cleofe Versola and the original bank records are very different, especially the letter "J" in Jose and Jaime.

"She (Bagsit) was not present when the account was opened. It’s all hearsay. The signatures appearing in the documents are very much different," he said, referring to Dichaves’ letter and the signature card.

Villa Ignacio also concurred with the Ombudsman’s observation that, legally speaking, Bagsit’s testimony pales in comparison with the prosecution’s star witness, former Equitable PCI Bank senior vice president Clarissa Ocampo, who testified that she was a "foot way" from Estrada when he signed as Jose Velarde.

Nevertheless, Verzola told the justices that Ocampo "deliberately lied" when she declared that the funding for the P500-million loan granted to Wellex Corp., a firm owned by plastics king William Gatchalian, came from a debit/credit authorization Estrada had signed.