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Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Justice office tells bureau: Probe 'bribery'
By Karlon N. Rama
CEBU CITY -- Wiretapping of phone conversations has reached Cebu. The justice department ordered an investigation into the wiretapped conversation between two persons, suggesting that the department dismissed the criminal case businessman James King filed against fellow trader Roderick Go for P200,000.
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, in an interview Tuesday night, said he ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to do the probe. He also told State Prosecutor Napoleon Dilag to go on leave until the investigation ends.
Gonzalez wants to clear the justice department and its officials, himself included, from any negative impressions the public might have gotten after reading about the conversation.
"You know, the public seems to be very sensitive about tapes and wiretapped conversations now. So, I had the NBI look into it," the justice secretary said.
He expressed annoyance over the allegation but, at the same time, downplayed it as an unjust reaction coming from someone who lost a case.
Disgruntled?
But, as it stands, Gonzalez said his resolution on the case stays until the Kings get a reversal from the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court.
Gonzalez suspects that a former justice department official, whose separation from the department was upon his prodding, may have had a hand in cooking up the controversy.
"I heard that he was there in Cebu recently. He was there before all this came out," Gonzalez said of the former official, whose name Sun.Star Cebu is withholding pending comment.
Prosecutor Dilag granted the Jan. 15, 2005 motion to annul, which the Go camp filed against the Oct. 8, 2003 resolution of Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño. Gonzalez approved Dilag's findings last June 20, 2005.
In granting the motion to annul, Gonzalez effectively dismissed the kidnapping and serious illegal detention case King filed against Go.
It also ordered the Office of the Cebu City Prosecutor to withdraw the criminal information from the Regional Trial Court (RTC).
For P200T
Gonzalez's order nullified Zuño's 2003 resolution by saying that Zuño had no authority to issue it in the first place.
The issuance of the resolution was carried in a Sun.Star Cebu report last June 29, 2005.
Days later, compact discs (CDs) that reveal the conversation between two men talking about the dismissal of the case surfaced.
Text messages revealing the names of the two and alleging that the resolution was obtained for P200,000, with P30,000 as down payment, also began circulating.
Gonzalez admitted being annoyed by the insinuation. Since it was he who approved Dilag's findings, then the official alluded in the alleged wiretapped conversation and the text messages as having accepted the P200,000 must be him.
"What, P200,000 lang? Napakamura ko pala (P200,000 only? They think I'm that cheap?)," he said. He added that previous reports allege that one of his subordinates received P2 million in relation to the King case.
He does not have a copy of the CD himself and merely read about it in a column that ran in Sun.Star Cebu last Monday, July 4.
Leads
Gonzalez said he issued the order for the investigation after reading the column.
The order was addressed to NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco who, sources inside the NBI said, endorsed the matter to NBI 7 Chief Medardo de Lemos.
"I just want to determine if this is true and, if it is, who are involved. In order to remove any suspicion, I ordered Dilag to go on leave. It is just a preventive measure on our part," Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez hopes the NBI would be able to obtain a copy of the CD. While it is not admissible as evidence, it might result to leads.
He also urged the two persons on the tape to step forward.
"If somebody knows something and, in good faith, will come out and testify, it would be most welcome," Gonzalez said. (Sun.Star Cebu/Sunnex)
(July 6, 2005 issue)
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