Estrada denies holding 57 mln dlr account

Manila, May 24 : Deposed Philippine President Joseph Estrada today admitted in court to signing some bank papers in 2000 using a false name but denied holding an account with nearly 57 million dollars in deposits.

Estrada, 69, is accused of amassing up to 80 million dollars from state coffers and bribes while in power for 31 months. The former film star denies the charges, which triggered his overthrow in a popular revolt in 2001.

''I do not own the Jose Velarde account,'' Estrada told the anti-graft court.

''I have been a public official for more than 30 years and my name was never tainted by any anomaly. I never enriched myself from commissions, kickbacks and any illegal transactions.'' He showed the court bank records that the controversial ''Jose Velarde'' account at Equitable-PCI bank in Manila was held by Jaime Dichavez, a wealthy Chinese-Filipino business executive.

But Estrada said he wrote ''Jose Velarde'' on signature specimen forms brought to him by two bank officials, who had testified for the prosecution that the former president opened an account using another name.

''That was just a show,'' he said, adding that it was part of an arrangement with Dichavez to make it appear Estrada held the businessman's account to force another trader to pay his debts through the ''Jose Velarde'' account.

Estrada said the two bank officials might not have known about the ''internal arrangement'' between him, Dichavez and a senior bank official handling the account.

FAILED BUSINESSES

''As a highest official in the land, he must be aware that he should not allow his office to be used in any way in a private business transaction,'' Dennis Villa-Ignacio, the lead prosecutor, told Reuters.

''I am weighing my option to conduct a cross-examination because he has made many significant statements that virtually admit his guilt.'' He noted Estrada's testimony about signing ''Jose Velarde'' and accepting about 3.8 million dollars from alleged gambling sources to fund a Muslim foundation.

Estrada won a landslide victory in the 1998 presidential election with huge support from poor voters before he was overthrown in 2001 by a popular uprising backed by the military, middle class and Roman Catholic bishops.

A verdict in his five-year plunder trial could come later this year.

In his testimony, Estrada also disputed accusations he had misdeclared his assets and liabilities in 1999 to hide hundreds of millions of pesos in shares and bank deposits.

''I did not include them in my statements of assets because these restaurants lost money and were already closed before I was even elected a senator in the late 1980s,'' he said.

Reuters