House prosecutor and Manila Rep. Joel Chua on Thursday accused Vice President Sara Duterte’s defense team of concentrating on relatively minor expenses while failing to address findings of alleged wealth amounting to hundreds of millions of pesos.
At a post-trial briefing, Chua said the defense presented witnesses to explain a P205,007.29 restaurant bill in Tokyo and a P256,882.50 Nike purchase in Kuala Lumpur, transactions totaling P461,889.79, instead of challenging the prosecution’s findings on Duterte’s alleged unexplained wealth.
Chua noted that the questioned expenses account for just 0.06% of the P817.87 million in alleged unexplained wealth identified by forensic accounting expert Alexander Cabrera.
He also cited testimony from Anti-Money Laundering Council Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura regarding about P4.4 billion in reported financial transactions involving Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases “Mans” Carpio.
House prosecution spokesperson Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong echoed the criticism, saying the defense had yet to explain the larger financial discrepancies cited in Cabrera’s report. He challenged the defense to directly address the alleged P817.87 million in unexplained wealth.
The defense, currently presenting evidence under the remaining impeachment charge involving alleged unexplained wealth, called witnesses lawyer Anel Martin Antero and Chadrin Parian to explain the restaurant and credit card transactions.
House prosecutors said the defense has so far not effectively disputed key findings on alleged unexplained wealth and undeclared assets ranging from P817.87 million to P1.5 billion. # (RRN)
