February 21, 2012 - The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on Tuesday denied reproducing certain bank records pertaining to Chief Justice Renato Corona's deposits at Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank), as earlier implied by some senator judges during Monday's impeachment proceedings.

In a statement, BSP said the examiners who checked the records of Philippine Savings Bank late last year "did not access the deposit account records which include the signature cards of Chief Justice Renato Corona. They never requested to see the deposit account records of the Chief Justice, nor were they presented the deposit account records of the Chief Justice."

Therefore, BSP added, the examiners did not secure copies of the records nor were these records reproduced. BSP examiner Jeremy Leal limited his discussion with PSBank officers to the bank's compliance with prescribed protocols to list certain types of depositors depositors under the category PEP, an acronym for Politically Exposed Personalities.

The PEP list is one of the requirements set by BSP as part of the government's anti-money laundering compliance program.

In the statement, BSP said "having noted that the Chief Justice is PSBank's client, examiner Jerry Leal verified PSBank's policy on politically exposed persons, or PEP. Examiner Leal then requested for PSBank's PEP list".

Enrile: No need for Rep. Banal to testify

In a related development, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said he believes there is no need for further statements from Quezon City Representative Jorge Banal, explaining that he doesn't want to invite or subpoena any member of the House of Representatives on grounds that, among others, it might become a precedent for Congress to do the same to the Senate.

Banal had spoken before the court, confirming that he went to PSBank Katipunan branch manager Annabelle Tiongson with copies of bank documents that he claims an unidentified person left at the gate of his house. He also said that he has received information from another source that Corona allegedly has a $300,000 account in PSBank.

Tiongson had told the impeachment court on Thursday that Banal sought her help in verifying certain pieces of information attributed to Chief Justice Renato Corona's bank documents.

Sen. Enrile said that Tiongson's explanation regarding the circumstances on how Banal asked for her help was enough. He added that he is convinced the leaked bank documents did not come from PSBank.

Enrile also said that copies of Corona's bank documents acquired by the prosecution panel do not appear to be fake, but there is the possibility they may have been altered.

He pointed out that if the leaked documents turn out to have been from the Anti-Money Laundering Council or the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, then the impeachment court might not accept these as proper evidence.

ACL / Reportage from Paola Palma and Cherrie Regalado