Defense mulls charges vs Rep. Banal over Corona bank docs

The camp of Chief Justice Renato Corona on Friday said they are considering suing Quezon City Rep. Jorge "Bolet" Banal for supposedly violating the law when he inquired about the magistrate's bank accounts.

 

In a report aired over GMA News TV's "News TV Live," anchor Ivan Mayrina quoted the defense panel as saying that it is against the law for someone like Banal to go to a bank and inquire about another person's account, in this case Corona.

 

The defense likewise said they cannot believe that the other members of the prosecution team did not know anything about the matter, the same television report said.

 

Still, Corona's lawyers said they are still awaiting the chief justice's decision on whether or not they will pursue any charges against Banal.

 

 

 

At the time, Tiongson said Banal had in his possession documents similar to the allegedly fake bank records, which showed the chief magistrate of supposedly having $700,000 in deposits, that were submitted by the prosecution team to the Senate.

 

Also on Thursday, Banal admitted before the impeachment court that he approached Tiongson. But the lawmaker said he just found the documents inside an envelope left by an anonymous source on their driveway in St. Ignatius Village, an exclusive residential community in Quezon City.

 

Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, one of the House prosecutors, earlier claimed that an anonymous "small lady" handed over to him the same records when he was at the Senate premises.   CCTV footage of Umali at the Senate, however, revealed no signs of any "small lady."  

 

The prosecutors attached the document to their subpoena request submitted to the impeachment court on Feb. 3, 2012.  — with Kimberly Jane Tan/RSJ, GMA News