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Saturday, October 22, 2005
Extort case v. ex-justice head is already with Ombuds: Gonzalez (10:41 a.m.)
MANILA -- Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr. has denied the allegations of Senator Sergio Osmeņa III that he sat on the US$2 million extortion case against former justice secretary Hernani Perez.
"He (Osmeņa) doesn't know what he's talking about. (That issue) is already an old story, it has been used against me before in the Commission on Appointments (CA), even before a certain Chavez filed it," he said, referring to the criminal complaints filed by former solicitor general Francisco Chavez last Wednesday.
The senator had said retired Hong Kong-based anti-corruption official Tony Kwok and even the Swiss Government gave evidence proving the truth on claims of former Manila congressman Mark Jimenez that Perez allegedly extorted money in exchange for his silence in connection with Impsa power plant deal.
Chavez, in his complaint before the Ombudsman, said Gonzalez allegedly hampered the progress of the complaint filed in 2003 by Jimenez.
But Gonzalez maintained that as early as April, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has already turned over Perez's case to the Ombudsman.
He said even if the case has already been given to the Ombudsmanm it still followed up on its earlier request dated June 23, 2005, with the Hong Kong Government in the investigation of bank records mentioned by Jimenez, as
authenticated by Consul General Corazon Belmonte-Jover. (ECV)
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