Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Erap denies receiving payoffs from illegal gambling operators (11:55 a.m.)
MANILA -- Ousted Philippine President Joseph Estrada on Wednesday denied receiving P545 million (US$10.6 million; euro8.7 million) in illegal gambling payoffs in exchange for protecting operators, calling the charges against him lies.
Estrada, testifying for the third time in his 5-year-old plunder trial, said as a mayor before he was elected president in 1998, he led a campaign against illegal gambling and had ordered police to "go all out against all forms of illegal gambling."
"Those are all lies," he told the court when asked to react to charges he received P545 million (US$10.6 million; euro8.7 million) in exchange for protecting illegal gambling. "I never received a single cent from illegal gambling. I never consented to any form of illegal gambling, particularly jueteng, even when I was a mayor."
"I never conspired with anyone, especially jueteng lords," he said, referring to the popular but illegal numbers game.
The money is part of about P4 billion (US$77 million; euro63 million) that prosecutors allege Estrada amassed from illegal gambling payoffs, tax kickbacks and commissions stashed in secret bank accounts under an alias.
Estrada, who was ousted in a 2001 "people power" uprising, also faces a perjury charge for allegedly underreporting his assets in 1999.(AP) |
