OUANO LAWYER SAYS: Withdrawal of information proves charge was baseless
The lawyer of former
“With the withdrawal of the information, it now appears that the whole case was baseless from the very start and the administrative penalties slapped were totally improper,” said lawyer Dennis Añover.
Ouano himself would have wanted to just go on with the case so as not to derail the proceedings.
Last week, prosecutors told the the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division they would withdraw the criminal information against Ouano so they could re-investigate the charge based on a recent report of the Commission on Audit, which yielded findings on the purchase of the controversial lampposts.
The prosecutors said the COA findings came only after the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas concluded its preliminary investigation into the purchase and filed the criminal information against Ouano.
But Añover further contended that if the case filed against his client and other officials was rock solid based on the project’s Program of Works and Estimates alone, the prosecutors should not have withdrawn the information so they could investigate the charge further if only to bolster their case.
Assistant Director Viginia Palanca-Santiago of the Ombudsman Visayas earlier said the POWE is their strongest evidence against those implicated in the lamppost controversy.
“Mayor Ouano had no participation in any of these activities. Mayor Ouano was not among those who went to the Court of Appeals to question the filing of the case by the Ombudsman,” Añover said.
To recall, the Ombudsman had ordered the preventive suspension of Ouano, together with Lapulapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza, nine DPWH officials and eight
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