Monday, October 08, 2007
House Speaker, son charged with ‘graft’ (5:39 p.m.)
MANILA –- Lawyer Rafael Pulido on Monday accused House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. and his son Jose “Joey” de Venecia III of violating several times the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act or Republic Act (RA) 3019 in a complaint he filed before the Office of the Ombudsman.
Pulido, in his complaint, said the de Venecias are liable for violating Section 5 of RA 3019, which prohibits relatives of the four highest officials of the land from having anything to do with government contracts and projects.
The lawyer charged that the Speaker, with obvious criminal intent, concealed his knowledge of his son's interest in the company MTI (Broadband Philippines) when it obtained from Congress a telecommunication franchise in 1995, and when it had that franchise amended in 1997 to include broadband services.
At both instances in 1995 and 1997, de Venecia Jr. was holding fort at the House as Speaker, Pulido said. (Sunnex)
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