SC denies appeal to reverse DBP graft case dismissal (10:35 a.m.)
THE Supreme Court (SC) has dismissed the government’s bid seeking the reversal of the Ombudsman’s ruling dismissing the graft complaint filed against several officials of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) for granting behest loans amounting to P1.02 billion to the under-collateralized Midland Cement Corporation from 1968 to 1981.
In a decision penned by Associate Justice Dante Tinga, the SC’s Second Division affirmed the November 24, 2000 resolution of then Ombudsman Aniano Desierto dismissing the graft complaint filed by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) and the Presidential ad Hoc Fact-Finding Committee on Behest Loans for insufficiency of evidence.
Desierto, in his assailed resolution, upheld the findings of the Evaluation and Preliminary Investigation Bureau (EPIB) that there is not enough evidence to prove the guilt of respondents Gregorio Licaros, J.V. de Ocampo, Leonides Virata and Alicia Reyes, members of the DBP Board and Midland officers and principal stockholders namely Lourdes Montenegro, Serafin Montenegro, Basilio Lirag and Felix Lirag for violation of Section 3 (e) and (g) of Republic Act 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act). (ECV/Sunnex)
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