Prosecutors ‘double checking’ Trillanes’ claims targeting Duterte financial records

House prosecutors in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte will call financial intelligence officials this week to authenticate voluminous bank records, verifying claims made by former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV regarding alleged illicit funds.

Public prosecutor and San Juan Representative Ysabel Zamora confirmed Sunday that the prosecution panel will present witnesses from the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to detail covered and suspicious transaction reports linked to Duterte and her husband, Attorney Manases "Mans" Carpio.

The AMLC previously submitted documents to the House Committee on Justice detailing P6.7 billion in banking transactions recorded across accounts belonging to the couple between 2006 and 2025.

Zamora disclosed during a radio interview that while prosecutors are keeping Trillanes' allegations in mind, the panel will rely strictly on authenticated financial records rather than unverified assertions.

"We will double-check it," Zamora said. "We won't immediately accept everything at face value because we have our own theory of the case, which we will corroborate using official records."

The upcoming presentation follows a Friday press conference in San Juan where Trillanes detailed alleged financial links between the Duterte family and illicit interests.

Trillanes claimed the family received P181 million from alleged drug figure Sammy Uy between 2011 and 2013, and alleged that Carpio’s banana chip manufacturing firm, CALE88 Foods Corp., received P319 million from Chinese entities.

Allies and legal counsel for the Vice President dismissed Trillanes' accusations as rehashed lies and baseless political attacks.

Trillanes was originally scheduled to testify as a prosecution witness in the Senate impeachment court but was withdrawn on 1 October.

The former lawmaker later said on social media that he requested his removal to relieve political pressure on the House prosecution panel.

Zamora acknowledged that the upcoming evidentiary phase will be lengthy as banking officials methodically authenticate financial ledgers for the record.