Akbayan files criminal charges vs Abalos

The Akbayan partylist group filed a criminal complaint Tuesday against former COMELEC Chair Benjamin Abalos before the Office of the Ombudsman.
 
Deputy minority leader and AKBAYAN Rep. Risa Hontiveros charged Abalos for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (RA 3019), Revised Penal Code, and the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees (RA 6713).
 
Hontiveros said, "Despite Abalos' denial, his own testimony and the sworn statement of former NEDA Sec. Romula Neri prove that he brokered the NBN deal and committed indirect bribery to ensure that ZTE would bag the deal, violating three laws in the process."
 
Akbayan legal counsel and UP Law Prof. Ibarra Gutierrez III, who accompanied the lawmaker, said that Abalos is legally and constitutionally barred from participating from having direct or indirect financial and pecuniary interest in the deal.

Gutierrez added that the sworn statements of Abalos and Neri likewise constitute a violation of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and the Revised Penal Code.
 
Hontiveros said that the NBN probe and Abalos' resignation would be for naught if the nation couldn't hold him accountable through an impartial trial.

"We need to hold high officials like Abalos accountable for an anomaly that could have cost the nation billions of public funds," she stressed. "This is the only acceptable closure to the NBN controversy."
 
She also challenged the Ombudsman to ensure a swift and impartial decision on their complaint.

"We hope that the Ombudsman would act with due haste and prudence on the case," Rep. Hontiveros said. "If only to disprove fears that the Ombudsman would protect the interest of Malacañang in this case, we hope that promptly act on the case."

She likewise reiterated her call for Ombudsman Merceditas Navarro-Gutierrez to consider inhibiting herself from the case.

"It is a question of delicadeza, an act of prudence because many see her closeness to the First Family as a cause of concern. She was a classmate of FG Mike Arroyo and an appointee of President GMA, and these alone could raise questions on the impartiality of the Ombudsman as an institution," Hontiveros said.