Former police Senior Superintendent Cezar Mancao II did not receive P150 million as payment for anything from anyone, his lawyer said Friday.
In a phone interview with GMA News Online, lawyer Ferdinand Topacio said the P150-million check cited by Sen. Panfilo Lacson was deposited to a joint account meant for Mancao's former business partner Theresa Abbas.
"No money was received by Mancao. It was for one of his partners," Topacio said, adding that the check even bounced.
"There's nothing to hide there. It was a failed transaction. There was nothing illegal," Topacio said.
But he said Mancao was not aware of the purpose of the P150-million check because Abbas was engaged in several real estate ventures in the United States.
He added that both the account and his client's partnership with Abbas have already been terminated.
"Their business relationship has already become sour," he said.
At last Thursday's Senate budget hearing, Lacson asked Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) executive director Vicente Aquino to verify a check for P150 million that was allegedly deposited to Mancao's account last year.
"Ang alam ko lang, authentic ang hawak kong document. Ang iba 'di ko pwede i-divulge. 'Yan ang ibinigay sa akin na info nang nag-usap kami [ni Aquino] privately," the senator said in an interview aired over radio dwIZ on Friday.
Also, He said the AMLC had been investigating the matter even before he revealed it during the Senate hearing.
Personal vendetta?
Topacio said Mancao's camp "welcomes" the investigation because it has nothing to hide.
"In this case it is very clear that Mr. Mancao opened an account in his name because he has nothing to hide," he said.
He also laughed off speculations that Mancao received P150 million as bribe money to implicate Lacson in the 2000 killings of publicist Salvador Dace and his driver Emmanuel Corbito.
"(The) bribe money is totally ridiculous. If you are going to bribe anyone you would not do so through checks. The investigation of ALMC will reveal that," he said.
"(This was blown up) definitely to destroy the credibility of Mr. Mancao and for personal vendetta," he added.
But Lacson said he was not accusing Mancao of being paid off by anybody.
"Di ako mag-speculate para sabihin na ang P150 million ibinayad ko sa kanya para i-implicate ako. Tinanong ko lang kung authentic o hindi ang document na hawak ko [that's all]," he said.
Lacson used to head the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force's (PAOCTF), the unit that allegedly carried out the Dacer-Corbito killings in November 2000.
Mancao, who headed the PAOCTF Task Group Luzon, claimed he had heard Lacson and former police Senior Superintendent Michael Ray Aquino talking about a supposed plan to "neutralize or liquidate" Dacer.
Mancao was the Justice Department's key witness in its double-murder case against Lacson that was then handled by the Manila Regional Trial Court.
The Court of Appeals, however, ordered the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 18 to drop the murder case after finding that Mancao was not a credible witness.
The CA's decision was upheld by the Supreme Court after Department of Justice, through the Office of the Solicitor General, waived its right to appeal the CA ruling. — LB
