Lawyers of Chief Justice Renato
Corona revealed what they called efforts by Malacanang
to pressure some senator-judges into defying a Supreme Court order
restraining the impeachment court from looking into his dollar account.
In
a hastily arranged press conference, nine members of the defense team
condemned the Palace for allegedly undermining the impeachment process
and the Constitution for purportedly trying to win senators over.
Jose
Roy III, a member of the defense team, said the panel received
information that the Palace was dangling "P100 million per senator" to
be released this week in exchange for defying the TRO.
Corona's
camp said he would confront the issue of his bank deposits once the
defense gets its turn to formally present evidence later in the
impeachment trial.
Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said in a text
message: "The P100 million is a complete fabrication concocted by the
desperate Corona defense lawyers.
"Their energies and time are
better spent preparing for [today's] continuing hearings on the hidden
and now exposed dollar and peso accounts of Corona in PSBank and BPI,"
Abad said, referring to the Chief Justice's alleged unreported deposits
in the two banks.
During the press conference, Corona's lawyers
were pressed to reveal their sources, but they stood their ground and
said it was up to the informant to decide whether to come out.
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