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| Bolaños reportedly believed the US$943billion came from Marcos |
The fate of a 70-year-old Filipino tourist who presented a
fake deposit slip for US$943billion at the HSBC main office in Central in April
last year will be known on Dec. 30.
District Court Judge Stanley Chan set the date for his
verdict at the close of the trial today, Nov. 20, of Brudencio J. Bolaños, on a
charge of using a false instrument.
The charge said Bolaños had tried to convince a bank
frontline staff that the instrument was
genuine. If the staff believed this, other people would have been put at risk.
Bolaños, who is being held without bail, has denied the
charge. He also chose not to give evidence.
His case involved the biggest monetary value for a spurious
instrument to have been presented to a bank in Hong Kong .
As in most of the other cases, the bank deposit slip was linked to the fabled
hidden treasure of ousted Philippine President, Ferdinand E. Marcos.
Bolaños’ lawyers had earlier tried to halt the trial on the ground
that a psychologist’s report stated that he was suffering from “delusional
disorder” but Judge Chan rejected the application.
The psychologist said in the report that Bolaños believed
former President Marcos had given him the money, and that it was insured in London
But Judge Chan had said that the evidence so far presented
in court, including the testimony of the HSBC executive who interviewed
Bolaños, indicated that the defendant knew from the beginning the document was
fake.
The judge said he had considered HSBC assistant manager
Cheung Wan-yuet’s statement that the bank never issued a receipt for the US$943
billion supposedly deposited in the defendant’s account by a Marcos foundation
on Jul 25, 1983.
Bolaños was arrested on Apr 9, 2018 after he and an
unidentified companion went to the fifth-floor counters of the HSBC head
offices in Central, and presented the deposit slip.
Cheung said she invited Bolaños and his unidentified
companion, who she said looked like a Malaysian and spoke Cantonese and
English, to the interview room after the counter staff passed the spurious
document to her.
When told that the deposit slip was fake, the defendant
allegedly insisted on talking to the regional head of global banking, a certain
Ms Chen, saying she was “more knowledgeable
and capable” than Cheung.
But when the two men heard the police were coming, they left
the room and headed for the lower floors. Cheung said she told the officers the
man with the fake document was already on the fourth floor. The police collared
Bolaños but his companion escaped.
Judge Chan showed displeasure at Cheung’s testimony, saying
the bank executive was “able to give only few details of the case” as she was
mostly replying “Sorry, I can’t remember” or “I am not sure.”
When Judge Chan queried whether she asked the two men for
their name cards, she replied “No.” She
also said she asked for both their passports but did not photocopy them.
When asked by defense counsel Elizabeth Herbert if she asked
Bolaños what the documents were, Cheung said the defendant told her the deposit
slip was given by his mother to him after depositing the money in his account.
But Cheung said the bank’s records showed Bolaños had no
HSBC account.
The second witness, officer Deng Tsz-teng, said when he
arrested Bolaños, the defendant had 10,000 Japanese yen and PhP240.25 in his
possession. The defendant had no mobile phone and was in a black business suit
and a blue shirt.
The trial first opened on Jul 17 and had to be postponed a
few times because some witnesses for the prosecution were not available.
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