$30 M flowed out of Corona accounts
– Heidi Mendoza

A TOTAL OF $30 million flowed out of the 82 dollar accounts allegedly owned by Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona in five banks, according to Commission on Audit commissioner Heidi Mendoza.

Mendoza, who had assisted Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales in preparing the powerpoint presentation that Morales presented before the impeachment court, was asked to continue the powerpoint presentation of Morales.

Mendoza said that based on their analysis of the dollar inflows and outflows from the 82 Corona dollar accounts from April 2003 to December 2011, a total of $28.7 million had been deposited into the accounts. On the other hand, a total of $30 million had been withdrawn from the accounts in those eight years.

Mendoza said the withdrawals appeared to outpace the deposits because they did not have any record of the starting balance of the accounts. As such, Mendoza said the accounts could have been “heavy” with cash from the start, before the AMLC started tracking the accounts.

“The withdrawal is bigger than the inflow because these are transactions that were captured by the AMLC,” Mendoza said. “It shows that there are heavy balances on top of each account.”

“This proves the theory that the withdrawals are equal or less than the deposit,” she added.

Mendoza said they had analyzed a total of 423 transactions spread over 82 account in five banks, “all in the name of the respondent.”

“These accounts are the four main accounts, and the rest are baby accounts,” she said. “There were many accounts created, all of them in the name of the respondent.”

Mendoza also said she was informed that the peso accounts of Corona was computed to have reached P 242 million. However, Mendoza did not provide any details.

At this point, defense lead counsel Serafin Cuevas objected to the testimony of Mendoza.

Cuevas pointed out that Mendoza was only allowed to take the place of Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales in presenting the powerpoint presentation that they had both prepared. Mendoza, however, was not supposed to be giving a testimony like a witness.

Presiding officer Juan Ponce Enrile ruled in favor of Cuevas’ objections, and asked Mendoza to stick to the powerpoint presentation.