OSP to appeal Sandiganbayan ruling on plunder case vs DOF executives

MANILA, Philippines -  The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) will seek a reversal of a Sandiganbayan decision clearing former Department of Finance (DOF) officials and owners of a textile company of plunder charges.

Prosecution Bureau I and VI Director Diosdado Calonge said the issue will be brought before the Supreme Court (SC) instead of filing a motion for reconsideration before the Sandiganbayan.

Calonge told The STAR that a petition for review through a certiorari will be filed, considering that the decision to dismiss the plunder case “involves a mere question of law.”

Among those who escaped charges for alleged involvement in the tax credit scam in the mid-1990s were DOF undersecretary Antonio Belicena and deputy executive director Uldarico Andutan Jr., both of the One-Stop Shop Inter-Agency Tax Credit and Duty Drawback Center (Center) from 1994 to 1996.

Both officials were charged for allegedly conspiring with the private firm Filstar Textile Industrial Corp. (Filstar) owned by spouses Faustino and Gloria Chingkoe.

The government was allegedly defrauded of P73.76-million worth of tax credits from anomalous transactions due to spurious shipping documents, supply contracts, processing records and forged delivery receipts.

But the Sandiganbayan on Wednesday dismissed the plunder charges, citing the OSP’s allegations that the Chingkoes were the ones who profited or amassed wealth.

In order to be charged for plunder, public officials should be the principal respondents who supposedly enriched themselves by more than P50 million by conniving with private respondents, and not the other way around.