The lawyers of Chief Justice Renato Corona were verbally admonished Monday by Senator-Judges to explain their earlier allegation that Malacañang was attempting to bribe the senators to influence the outcome of the impeachment trial.

Senator Antonio Trillanes directed lawyer Jose Roy III to elaborate by the end of the week the defense panel's allegation that Malacañang was offering P100 million to senators in exchange for moving for the disclosure of the details of dollar accounts attributed to Chief Justice Corona in the impeachment trial.

For his part, defense lawyer Judd Roy apologized to Senator Allan Peter Cayetano after Cayetano expressed displeasure that the allegation is a cause of concern for the impeachment court and opens the roles of the Senator-Judges to criticism. Cayetano added that it is not right for the defense to be disclosing this type of information to the media since it tends to make the lawmakers look like they are prone to bribery.

The defense lawyers had called a press conference Sunday night and disclosed that Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa was allegedly contacting the Senator-Judges to defy a Supreme Court temporary restraining order on revealing the dollar account details.

Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Pia Cayetano and Allan Peter Cayetano have denied receiving any such overtures from Malacañang.

Senators Antonio Trillanes IV moved to ask the defense explain why they should not be cited for contempt. He, along with other senators, also urged Roy to idenfity their purported "reliable source" who passed on the tip about the bribe offer. Some Senators asked Roy to name the senators who had been offered the bribe.

Roy did not name a single senator.

Senators also asked about Roy's pronouncements on Corona's reported intention plan to reveal the details of his bank accounts in due time. Roy had given assurances that Corona gave the defense panel authority to make the announcement about his accounts to the public.

ACL/With reports from Ina Andolong, Patricia De Leon and Carol Ramoran