Witness: P41M withdrawn from Mans Carpio’s account in an hour ‘unusual’

MANILA, Philippines — The P41-million cash withdrawal made within an hour and 13 minutes was “unusual” and raised questions about the lack of a clear transaction trail, a financial analyst testified during Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial on Monday.

Alexander Cabrera, a lawyer and accountant presented by the prosecution as an expert witness on Article II of the impeachment complaint, made the observation in response to questions from Sen. Risa Hontiveros, who cited an Aug. 6, 2024 transaction listed in Table 24, page 18 of his forensic report.

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“Sa ordinaryong tao po, unusual po, 41 million in cash, kailangan nyo po siyempre ng bag po doon and parang may hinahabol po eh kasi lahat po ginawa within the hour po,” Cabrera told the senator.

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(For an ordinary person, it is unusual. P41 million in cash, you would need a bag for that, and it seems like someone was in a hurry because everything was done within an hour.)

Cabrera said the accounts both belonged to Carpio.

He added that withdrawing such a large amount in cash, instead of using a manager’s check or transferring the money to another bank account, could indicate an attempt to avoid leaving a transaction trail.

“So kung wala pong trail, ito po sa amin yung mga telltale signs din po sa forensic investigation e,” he said.

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(So if there is no transaction trail, these are also telltale signs for us in a forensic investigation.)

“Pagka po yung mga transactions po kulang sa trail, kulang po 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 added.

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(When transactions lack a trail or records, with no documents evidencing them despite the transactions having taken place, the absence of documentation is also evidence.)

Hontiveros then asked Cabrera what might explain the apparent urgency behind the withdrawals, which amounted to P41 million in less than two hours.

Cabrera said his team examined the timestamps of the transactions and found that the withdrawals were closely spaced, with the final transaction occurring 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 had lunch first before the money was withdrawn… so we thought they were rushing something because the transaction proceeded right after lunch. Counting P41 million also takes a considerable amount of time)

Sen. Kiko Pangilinan, meanwhile, sought to place the Aug. 6 2024, withdrawal in the context of events involving Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio.

“So ako rin naging curious dito kaya iniisip ko ano po nangyari noong August 6 o kaya thereabouts,” the senator said.

(I also became curious about this, so I was wondering what happened on August 6 or thereabouts.)

READ: Witness corrects Duterte lawyer: No mention of ‘alleged’ in my report

Pangilinan said for the record, Duterte resigned as education secretary on July 19, 2024, while drug charges were filed against Carpio on July 30 in connection with the so-called magnetic lifter case—incidents that he said may easily be looked up on Google.

He pointed out that the P41-million withdrawal occurred six days after the filing of the charges.

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Asked again whose accounts were involved in the Aug. 6 transactions, Cabrera confirmed the accounts both belonged to Carpio. /jpv