Abalos on ZTE deal: Not guilty

MANILA, Philippines - Former elections chairman Benjamin Abalos pleaded not guilty to graft charges before the Sandiganbayan yesterday.

Accompanied by at least four lawyers, Abalos denied accusations that he interceded and brokered for the Chinese firm ZTE Corp. for the botched $329-million national broadband network (NBN) contract for a fee.

“I plead not guilty, your honor,” Abalos said after the charges against him were read in open court.

Speaking to reporters after the arraignment, Abalos, a former trial court judge, said he is confident his name would be cleared.

“I (have a) very, very confident attitude that I would be acquitted,” he said.

“As a lawyer, I know the weight of the evidence against me. I have a very, very strong feeling I would be acquitted.”

The Truth Commission would not cover him because he has not committed any corruption, he added.

Salvador Panelo, one of Abalos’s lawyers, said the Office of the Ombudsman has no case against his client.

The prosecution’s act of amending the charge sheet before the arraignment shows lack of preparation, he added.

Panelo said prosecutors might have added only one word in the amended information accusing Abalos of violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

“The very essence of the accusation against Abalos is that he was brokering for ZTE, which is an absurdity because Mr. Abalos cannot do that,” he said.

“The transaction is a done deal. ZTE has already been designated as the contractor so why would Abalos be brokering for ZTE when the deal has already been done.”

Panelo said the Office of the Ombudsman investigated Abalos, former National Economic and Development Authority director general Romulo Neri, former Transportation secretary Leandro Mendoza, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, her husband, and several others because of the NBN-ZTE deal.

“Since others were not charged, how can these people (Abalos and Neri) be involved when the resolution of the (Office of the) Ombudsman that filed this case said that all of them except the two are guilty,” he said.

“Under the law, conspiracy says that the guilt of one is the guilt of all. But since they said that most of them are innocent, necessarily the reverse is true, then all of them must be innocent because what were they conspiring against when the people they are conspiring with are innocent.”

However, the prosecution dismissed the claim of Abalos that the graft case against him is weak.

Deputy Special Prosecutor Jesus Micael, a member of the panel that investigated the NBN-ZTE case, said they have strong evidence against Abalos, whom they are confident of convicting.

“Otherwise, we would not have filed the case,” he said.

Special Prosecutor Wendell Barrera-Sulit said they would prosecute the case against Abalos until justice is served.

“We have done our job in filing the case, and we will fulfill our commitment,” she said.

De Venecia, Lozada attend arraignment

Whistleblowers Jose de Venecia III and Rodolfo Lozada Jr. came to witness the arraignment of Abalos, although they were not required to do so.

However, they did not hear Abalos enter his plea because they arrived late.

De Venecia said it is good that Abalos is facing the case against him so the truth would come out.

“Chairman Abalos knows the whole truth,” he said in Filipino.

Lozada, accompanied by half a dozen nuns, said he attended the arraignment to know what’s happening.

“Hopefully, the truth would be given a chance,” he said.

The Sandiganbayan has scheduled the pre-trial conference of the case on Sept. 6 at 8:30 a.m.

It ordered the prosecution and the defense to submit their pre-trial briefs and documentary evidence 10 days before that date.

The anti-graft court’s Fourth Division hearing the case of Abalos is chaired by Associate Justice Gregory Ong.