Delfin Lee slams DOJ chief

MANILA, Philippines - Globe Asiatique president Delfin Lee slammed Justice Secretary Leila de Lima for identifying him as a high-profile fugitive.

In a statement issued Thursday, the detained businessman – who is facing a P6-billion syndicated estafa case over a housing scam in Pampanga – cried foul after De Lima mentioned his name as part of a list of high-profile fugitives.

The list included former Dinagat Island representative Ruben Ecleo Jr., former police superintendent Cesar Mancao, and former Palawan governor Joel Reyes and his brother, former Coron town mayor Mario Reyes. 

De Lima said Lee was included in the most wanted list but has been arrested.

The businessman said he is no longer in the list of wanted high-profile personalities and that he was already cleared by the Court of Appeals (CA) in the case. 

 “Due to the government’s continued efforts to persecute me, I continue to be behind bars even if there is no subsisting criminal charge against me,” Lee stressed.

He has a pending petition in the Supreme Court questioning the legality of his arrest, detention and trial for syndicated estafa for allegedly defrauding the government housing financier Home Development Mutual Fund and a number of homebuyers. 

He has been claiming that his continued detention was in violation of his constitutional rights, considering that there was no legal basis for his arrest, noting that the only charge sheet against him, the lone criminal information for syndicated estafa filed against him and his co-accused, had already been “quashed” or terminated by the CA.