Sandiganbayan denies ex-Tesda exec’s plea to go on business trip

How can a jobless retiree go on a business trip?

The Sandiganbayan asked this question as it denied the motion of former Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) bids and awards committee member Ernesto Beltran for permission to go on a business trip in the United States this month.

Beltran is facing a graft case along with former Tesda Chief Augusto Syjuco Jr., in connection with an anomalous P30-million computerization project in 2007.

The court’s Seventh Division also ordered Beltran to explain “why he should not be cited in contempt of court for deliberately misleading” the court when he earlier said he was jobless to secure the reduction of his bail.

“The Court cannot reconcile accused Beltran’s previous representation that he is jobless with his present claim that he intends to go on a business trip to maintain his consultancy position with Hytec Power Inc.,” read the two-page resolution. —VINCE F. NONATO