The announcement came as Estrada's replacement, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, was putting together her government, trying to ease divisions in the country caused by the months of political crisis that ended this weekend with the former movie actor's removal from office. Estrada opponents had been demanding that, even after his ouster, he face trial on the corruption charges that led to his impeachment trial last month. When that Senate trial collapsed last week, mass street protests forced Estrada to quit. The top charge that Estrada could face in the new investigation carries a possible death penalty - but it was considered extremely unlikely that the former head of state could face execution by lethal injection.
Economic plunder is defined as stealing from the state.
There are different categories, with different sets of penalties, depending on the amounts of money involved. Desierto said investigators would use all of the proceedings at the impeachment trial and would seek access to bank records that prosecutors in the Senate trial were blocked from viewing. Prosecutors in the impeachment trial had said those records would show Estrada had millions of dollars hidden away, earned from corrupt activities. When senators voted to prevent their release tomorrow, the prosecutors resigned - triggering street protests that swelled over the next three days to some 250,000 people. Estrada's legal status remained murky.