Pasig City:Manila The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) has confirmed to the Senate impeachment court that Vice President Sara Duterte holds dollar accounts with the bank. This revelation comes as part of the ongoing proceedings concerning financial accounts held by Duterte and her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, at the BPI-Julia Vargas branch in Pasig City.
According to Philippines News agency, the information regarding the dollar deposits emerged after the defense decided to forego the testimony of Paul Rodriguez Ysmael, head of BPI's legal department. Defense counsel Michael Poa stated that the testimony was deemed unnecessary as previous hearings had already addressed the inquiry about the Vice President's accounts.
In the impeachment court, James Bryan Ibrahim Alih, representing the prosecution, expressed the prosecution's interest in cross-examining Ysmael regarding documents confirming the existence of the dollar accounts. However, Sen. Francis Escudero, presiding officer of the court, upheld the defense's decision to omit Ysmael's testimony while allowing the prosecution to address the BPI letter at a later stage.
The peso accounts, jointly held by Vice President Duterte and her father, reportedly include PHP96 million in two time deposits. These accounts are under scrutiny due to allegations of a "check kiting" maneuver aimed at concealing funds from the Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) as per the prosecution's forensic financial audit expert, Alexander Cabrera.
