The Philippine Online Chronicles

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Malacanang said on Friday that the timing of the closure of Chief Justice Renato Corona's three bank accounts on the day that he was impeached was “suspicious.”

In GMA News article, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said that they will not go as far as thinking that the closure of the bank accounts means that Corona is guilty of the charges against him.

“But it is certainly suspicious,” she added.

Yesterday, PSBank president Pascual Garcia testified before the impeachment court that Corona closed three bank accounts in their Katipunan branch on December 12, 2011, the day that he was impeached in the House of Representatives.

According to an Inquirer article, private prosecutor Demetrio Custodio claimed on Thurday that Corona, on the day that he was impeached, closed at least three PSBank peso accounts qmounting to P32.6 million.

“There’s evidence your honor that shows that three accounts were closed on the same date of Dec. 12, 2011. And this will show that this was in preparation because of the impeachment complaint that was filed,” Custodio was quoted saying.

Reacting after Garcia's testimony, Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggot Estrada said that the timing of the closure was suspicious.

“These three accounts … they were all closed on the day that the Chief Justice was impeached. And according to (lead prosecutor Neil) Tupas, the Chief Justice was impeached on Dec. 12, 2011. And all of these three accounts were closed. I don’t want to entertain suspicions, or malice, but I really have suspicions,” Estrada said.

In a separate Inquirer article, the prosecution panel said that the closure of Corona's bank accounts was a sign of guilt.

“Flight is always an evidence of guilt,” Marikina Representative and prosecution panel spokesperson Romero Quimbo said on Thurday.

In a press conference, however, Corona's defense lawyer Tranquil Salvador III explained that the money deposited in the closed accounts are not owned by the Chief Justice but belongs to the Basa-Guidote Enterprise Inc., a company owned by the family of Corona's wife. Salvador said that the account were closed to “protect” the company's money.