The prosecutor leading attempts to indict ousted Philippines president Joseph Estrada said Monday he would seek to have the deposed leader jailed next week on corruption charges.
Special prosecutor Aniano Desierto, the government ombudsman, said Monday that a special panel had completed its probe into allegations the former president illegally amassed a fortune while in office.
Desierto has made it clear he believes there is sufficient evidence to support plunder, corruption, and related charges against Estrada which would result in his immediate detention.
But he has been blocked from laying the charges while the Supreme Court hears arguments over Estrada's claim that he was removed from office illegally.
The court last week asked Desierto to temporarily suspend the investigation for seven working days ending next Monday while it considered the arguments.
Desierto said he would be ready to announce the result of the probe as soon as the court gave the green light. "We'll be on time, on schedule," he said.
Prosecutors allege Estrada accumulated at least 400 million dollars in his 30 months in office, despite receiving a monthly salary of only 1,000 dollars a month.
Desierto on Monday said several banks where Estrada had allegedly kept his unexplained wealth had already submitted records.
He said prosecutors also discovered that one Estrada mistress had deposits worth more than 650 million pesos, although they would not comment on whether this was illegally acquired.
House of Representatives member Oscar Moreno, one of 11 prosecutors in Estrada's aborted impeachment trial, charged Monday that apart from his fortune stashed in various banks the deposed leader also invested in commercial papers using aliases.
Moreno said brokerage houses affiliated with some foreign banks were used as fronts in acquiring the debt instruments, specific details of which he could give to Disierto.
"I am urging the ombudsman to act on this and issue a pertinent subpoena addressed to these stock brokerage companies, especially those which are part of bank conglomerates," Moreno said.
Estrada has argued that he remains the president and therefore enjoys immunity from suit. He was toppled in a military-backed popular revolt last month.
In his new Supreme Court filing Monday, Estrada argued that Desierto's comments on the corruption case made a fair investigation impossible and applied for a "gag" order to be imposed on the prosecutor.
"He cannot act with an evil eye and with an unequal hand without offending the equal protection clause. Since self-restraint is not in the cards, a gag order is in order," Estrada lawyers said in their petition.
Justice Secretary Hernando Perez said Monday that Estrada faces immediate arrest if indicted for plunder, or large-scale corruption, because "that is a capital offense, without bail."
If Estrada lawyers get their way, they would want "everybody to be disqualified or to inhibit themselves from the case," Perez said. "But I don't think Mr. Desierto should be prevented from doing his job."
Perez said he could not envision Estrada "returning to power" under the present circumstances.
The Arroyo government has said it will not allow Estrada to strike a deal for house arrest instead of actual detention.
Manila newspapers meanwhile debated whether jail barbers would allow Estrada to keep his pompadour hairstyle or give him a white side wall haircut given to the rest of the prisoners.
Perez said jailers would likely leave his hair alone as giving him a close shave would amount to an "indignity." – MANILA (AFP)
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