AMLC investigator claims signatures of Jinggoy’s alleged dummy are dissimilar

A witness from the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) on Monday testified before the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division on Sen. Jinggoy Estrada’s alleged use of dummy accounts in transactions with Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged pork barrel scam mastermind.

 

At the continuation of his testimony, AMLC bank investigator Orlando Negradas Jr. said he and the other members of the three-man team who conducted an inquiry into the bank transactions of Estrada and his supposed conduits, noted dissimilarities in the signatures of Estrada’s alleged dummy, Juan Ng, compared with those on Ng's company ID and on checks he had issued.

 

“You’re not a hand-writing expert, why did you conclude that there were dissimilarities in the signature of Juan Ng [on] his ID and his signatures [on] the checks?,” prosecution lawyer Lalaine Benitez asked Negradas during a direct examination by the prosecution panel.

 

“These signatures are clearly different, you don’t have to be a handwriting expert to conclude that those are different,” Negradas replied, noting it was routine in an AMLC investigation to compare specimen signatures appearing in checks, deposit slips, passbook and other bank documents.

 

Negradas earlier identified Ng, a businessman who owns a steel roofing company in San Juan City, as one of the alleged Estrada dummies. Other supposed dummies earlier identified by Negradas were a certain Francis Yenko and the senator’s aide Pauleen Labayen.

Bank accounts

 

According to the 90-page AMLC Inquiry Report on the bank transactions of Estrada and his alleged dummies, Ng opened an account with Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company (MBTC)-Greenhills, Wilson Center branch in 2008. The account was assigned the numbers 071-51027-B.

 

In opening the account with Metrobank-Greenhills, Wilson Center branch, Ng presented his company ID as president and CEO of Architecks Metal Systems Inc. (AMSI), the AMLC said.

 

Ng's signatures on his company ID and specimen signature card (SSC) with Metrobank-Greenhills were similar, but entirely different compared with the signatures on Ng’s government-issued IDs such as passport, driver’s license and senior citizen’s card, the AMLC noted.

 

The report noted Ng's signatures on his AMSI and Metrobank-Greenhills account were also different from his accounts with Metrobank-Rotonda, Metrobank-N. Domingo and Chinabank-Corinthian Hills.

 

“For the purpose of this report, the signature of Juan T. Ng appearing in his government issued IDs and SSC (specimen signature card) [on] his accounts with MBTC-Q.C. Rotonda Center, MBTC-N. Domingo Branch and China-Bank-Corinthian Hills Branch is considered as the ‘conventional’ signature while that appearing [on] the SSC of MBTC-Greenhills Wilson Branch and AMSI ID as the ‘unconventional’ signature,” the report read.

 

The AMLC investigators alleged the handwriting and signatures on checks issued under Ng’s account with Metrobank-Greenhills were also “much different” from those on the checks issued by Ng from his other accounts, “but very similar to those on the checks issued by Sen. Estrada from his accounts.”

Check recipients

 

The AMLC claimed the recipients of the checks issued from the Metrobank-Greenhills account “could be more associated/related to Senator Estrada than to Juan T. Ng...” such as the senator’s wife Precy Ejercito, his other alleged dummy Francis Yenko and his fellow Senator Ramon Bong Revilla Jr.

 

Records obtained by AMLC showed Ng’s Metrobank-Greenhills account had total credits amounting P119.628 million during its six-year existence from 2008 to 2013. With a remaining balance of P12.631 million, the account was closed on July 30, 2013 – “during the time the PDAF scam circulated in the media and during the time when investigations were being made by the NBI and Senate Blue Ribbon Committee.”

 

“There are significant indications that Metrobank Account No. 071-51027-B under the name of Juan Tan Ng was used or controlled by Senator Estrada…The signature used in this account is different from other accounts of Juan Tan Ng,” the report claimed.

 

Asked to react on the matter, Estrada’s lawyer Alexis Abastillas-Suarez said Negradas' testimony is “inadmissible” under jurisprudence, considering that he admitted he was not a hand-writing and signature expert.

 

 “In-admit na kasi nila before that he is not an expert witness on handwriting. He concluded in his report that the signatures of Juan Ng ay hindi raw totoong signature ni Juan Ng, it was supposedly made by Sen. Estrada. Paano niya mapapatunayan 'yun when he is not a handwriting expert? So for us, his testimony is inadmissible,” Suarez said.

 

Estrada is facing plunder and graft charges involving the pork barrel scam. He is currently detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame, Quezon City. – VS, GMA News