SC orders anti-graft office to stop probe vs. Khan

The graft investigators of the Visayas Ombudsman and their counterparts in Manila were ordered to stop its investigation on the complaint filed against Supreme Court deputy administrator Ismael G. Khan who was accused of graft and corruption.

Justice Renato Corona said Khan could not be held liable for alleged violation of the provisions of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-graft and Corrupt Practices Act because he was not connected to the government when he worked with the Philippine Airlines.

Aside from Khan, a certain Wenceslao Malabanan, who was also with the airline company, was included in the complaint filed before the Visayas Ombudsman in 1989.

Rosauro Torralba and Celestino Bandala accused Khan and Malabanan of violating the anti-graft and corrupt practices act when they used their positions in PAL to secure a contract for Synergy Services Corporation, a corporation engaged in hauling and janitorial services where both of them have shares.

Khan and Malabanan argued that the Ombudsman does not have jurisdiction on them because they were not public servants at that time, but the Visayas Ombudsman rejected their arguments and the Ombudsman in Manila also sustained the ruling.

The Ombudsman argued that although PAL was originally organized as a private corporation, its controlling stock was later acquired by the government through the Government Service Insurance System, therefore it became a government-owned or controlled corporation.

But the Supreme Court ruled that the term "government-owned and controlled corporations" in the 1973 Constitution was qualified by the 1987 Constitution to refer only to those corporations with original charters.

"In any event, PAL has since reverted to private ownership and we find it pointless to scrutinize the implications of a legal issue that technically no longer exists," the High Court ruled. - Rene U. Borromeo