Senators to unveil new ZTE witness

MANILA, Philippines – A new witness will testify  at the resumption of Senate hearings next week on the scrapped national broadband network (NBN) deal, and will corroborate the claims of Senate witness Dante Madriaga that a “Filipino group” had received $41 million from ZTE Corp. of China, opposition senators bared yesterday.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and Sen. Panfilo Lacson told a forum yesterday that the new witness has knowledge of the $41 million in cash advances made to the so-called Greedy Group Plus Plus, allegedly composed of Leo San Miguel, Ruben Reyes, retired police Gen. Quirino de la Torre, Jimmy Paz and resigned Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos.

Asked to describe the new witness, Pimentel said the person has knowledge of the distribution of funds and how the money was supposed to have been distributed among members of the Greedy Group.

The witness, now under Lacson’s custody, has direct information on the acceptance of money from ZTE sources, Pimentel added.

Lacson refused to divulge details about the new witness but he assured members of media that the witness is now under his custody and that the members of the administration camp may not be able to come to him or her.

“I will never run out of secrets and surprises, I am telling you,” Lacson told reporters yesterday when he appeared at the Kapihan ng Senado.

After hinting that another witness, aside from Madriaga, is attending Tuesday’s 12th Senate hearing on the NBN deal, Lacson referred further questions to Pimentel, who said the witness will have something substantial to say.

“The witness has something explosive to say. We will not give you a hint of who this witness is,” Pimentel said.

Pimentel said other witnesses in the executive department cannot invoke executive privilege and expect to get away with it after President Arroyo revoked EO 464.

“It is only Commission on Higher Education Chairman Romulo Neri who is covered by the temporary restraining order issued by the Supreme Court. All other witnesses including those summoned for Tuesday are not covered by anything that can legally justify their non-appearance before the Senate,” he said.

Reiterating the Senate’s position on rejecting the Supreme Court’s compromise offer that would have allowed Neri to attend the Senate hearings, Pimentel said the Senate has to defend the powers vested upon it in view of future proceedings or investigations.

Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. said the Senate has summoned ZTE Corp. president Yu Yong and vice president for finance Fan Yang to attend Tuesday’s Senate hearing on the $329-million NBN-ZTE deal. 

The Office of the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms tried to serve the subpoenas at the ZTE office in Makati yesterday but the Chinese staff referred the Senate servers to the ACCRA Law Office, lawyers for the firm, said Sgt-at-Arms retired general Jose Balajadia.

Villar said the two Chinese executives are critical in the Senate investigation because they are the ones linked by Senate whistleblower Jose de Venecia III, and witnesses Rodolfo Lozada Jr. and Madriaga as the ZTE officials who were supposedly privy to the $41-million advanced commissions given to their Filipino representatives and brokers, including President Arroyo and First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo.

Summons have also been issued to members of the so-called Greedy Group, including Reyes, San Miguel, Paz and Abalos, who resigned after the controversy broke out last year.

Villar said Yu and Fan may want to talk about the commissions which they have paid to their Filipino counterparts now that the NBN deal has been shelved.