Sandigan orders arrest of Dichaves

The Sandiganbayan special division ordered yesterday the immediate arrest of businessman Jaime Dichaves, one of the co-accused of jailed former President Joseph Estrada in the capital offense of plunder.

In a one-page order, anti-graft court special division chairman, Associate Justice Minita Chico-Nazario, directed the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation Division Group (PNP-CIDG), the Central Police District (CPD) as well as the sheriff and security services of the Sandiganbayan to facilitate the immediate arrest of Dichaves, who is believed to have already flown to Canada or New Zealand.

Nazario also ordered Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo to include Dichaves’ name in the bureau’s hold-departure list.

Dichaves, a resident of 19 Madrigal st., Corinthian Gardens and Green Meadows Subdivision, both in Quezon City, was earlier tagged by prosecution witness and Belle Corp. vice chairman Willie Ng Ocier as the one who requested and took from the SSI management a check amounting to P189.7 million.

The amount represented the alleged profit-commission of Estrada from the sale of the 447,650,000 shares of stock of Belle Corp. to the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and the Social Security System (SSS) amounting to a total of P2 billion in October 1999.

Dichaves was charged by the anti-graft court as Estrada’s co-accused in the plunder case on Oct. 31, 2001.

The Office of the Ombudsman sought the inclusion of Dichaves because of his involvement in Estrada’s attempt to accumulate wealth with public funds.

Ocier and Dichaves are second cousins, their mothers being first cousins.