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The Sandiganbayan on Friday suspended anew the
arraignment of the graft charges against former Justice Secretary
Hernando Perez and three other co-accused but junked their move to
suspend the proceedings.
The Sandiganbayan First Division
headed by Presiding Justice Diosdado Peralta postponed the
arraignment to July 18.
The court made the suspension of
arraignment after a motion was lodged by the lawyers of Perez and
his wife Rosario, along with Ernest Escaler and Ramon Arceo, to
quash the proceedings.
The Sandiganbayan disallowed the
suspension of proceedings because they cannot resolve the motion to
quash if they will suspend the proceedings. However, the court reset
the arraignment.
It was argued by the accused that
the case against them must be dismissed because “the facts of the
case do not constitute an offense, lack of jurisdiction and that the
Office of the Ombudsman has no authority to file such a case.”
The Sandiganbayan suspended the
arraignment pending resolution of the motion to quash. The court
asked the prosecution to lodge their opposition/comment on the said
motion.
In the meantime, the
Sandiganbayan Fourth Division, which is handling another graft case
against Perez and the co-accused, ordered the former justice chief
to appear before them for the fingerprinting purposes related to the
bail they posted.
The Sandiganbayan noticed that
the bail made by Perez before a Batangas court did not contain any
fingerprint report.
Perez was charged in court by the
Office of the Ombudsman in connection to the $2-million extortion
charge filed by former Manila Rep. Mark Jimenez, which stemmed from
a controversial power deal.
According to the Ombudsman,
records would show that Jimenez deposited $2 million in February 23,
2003 in beneficiary account HO133706 of the Coutts Bank in Hong Kong
from Trade and Commerce Bank, Cayman Islands through the Chase
Manhattan Bank in New York.
--Jomar Canlas
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