MANILA, Philippines — A forensic accountant has described as “unusual” the withdrawal of P41 million in cash from the bank accounts of Vice President Sara Duterte's husband, Mans Carpio, within an hour and 13 minutes on Aug. 6, 2024, saying the closely timed transactions appeared rushed.
Responding to Sen. Risa Hontiveros’ questions during the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday, October 12, forensic accountant Alexander Cabrera said the amount and timing of the withdrawals raised questions.
“Sa ordinaryong tao po, unusual po. Eh 41 million in cash, kailangan n'yo po siyempre ng bag po doon. And parang may hinahabol po eh, kasi lahat po ginawa within the hour po,” he said.
(For an ordinary person, that would be unusual. P41 million in cash would, of course, require a bag to carry. And it seemed like they were in a hurry because everything was done within an hour.)
Hontiveros cited Table 24, page 18 of Cabrera’s forensic report, which recorded the total cash withdrawals of P41 million on Aug. 6, 2024.
Cabrera confirmed that both accounts involved in the transactions belonged to Carpio. He questioned why such a large amount was withdrawn in cash instead of being transferred to another bank account or obtained through a manager’s check.
He said the absence of supporting documents could also serve as evidence in a forensic investigation, particularly when a transaction took place without a clear paper trail.
“Pagka po ‘yung mga transactions po kulang sa trail, kulang sa record, wala pong document evidencing it pero nangyari po yung transaction, yung pong walang document nangyari yung transaction, evidence din po ‘yun eh,” Cabrera said.
(When transactions lack a trail, lack records and have no documents to support them, but the transactions still took place, the absence of documentation is also evidence.)
His team also examined the timestamps of the withdrawals and found that the transactions were closely spaced, with the final withdrawal taking place after a lunch break.
“Nag-lunch muna, tapos kinuha po ‘yun. Kaya sabi namin parang may hinahabol kasi right after lunch tuloy ‘yung transaction. Matagal din po kasi magbilang ng 41 million,” he said.
(They [Carpio's camp] had lunch first, then withdrew the money. That’s why we said it seemed like they were in a hurry because the transaction continued right after lunch. It also takes a long time to count P41 million.)
Sen. Kiko Pangilinan, meanwhile, questioned the timing of the withdrawals in relation to developments involving Duterte and Carpio.
"'Yung August 6, 2024, sabi ninyo 41 million ang winithdraw sa isang araw at parang may hinahabol. So ako rin naging curious dito, kaya iniisip ko, ano ba nangyari noong August 6 o kaya thereabouts, no?" Pangilinan said.
(On August 6, 2024, you said P41 million was withdrawn in a single day and that it seemed like someone was in a hurry. I became curious about this too so I wondered what happened on August 6 or around that time.)
He noted that Duterte resigned as education secretary on July 19, 2024, before drug charges were filed against Carpio on July 30 in connection with the so-called magnetic lifter case.
Just to place on record, uh, Vice President Sara Duterte resigned as DepEd chairperson July 19, 2024. And then on July 30, uh, it's in the news and we can Google it because that's what we did, uh, drug charges were filed against Attorney Mans Carpio doon sa, um, 'yong tawag dito, magnetic lifter," Pangilinan said.
"So July 30 'yun. So that was, uh, the filing was July 30, and then six days later nangyari ito," he added, referring to the August 6 withdrawals.
(So that was on July 30. The charges were filed on July 30, and then this happened six days later.)
Carpio has maintained that the credit card expenses discussed during the impeachment trial were personal expenditures paid for with his own money. He has also denied Duterte's involvement in the transactions and said no public funds were used.
Cabrera was presented by the prosecution as an expert witness on Article II of the impeachment complaint against Duterte, which accuses the vice president of amassing unexplained wealth disproportionate to her lawful income, failing to fully disclose her assets in her Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs), and maintaining prohibited business interests while in office.