Prosecutor in Garcia deal suspended

Malacañang has filed administrative charges against Special Prosecutor Wendell Sulit of the Office of the Ombudsman and suspended her for 90 days in connection with the controversial plea bargain with former military comptroller Carlos Garcia.

Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. signed on June 14 the formal charge for acts and omissions constituting graft and corruption and betrayal of public trust related to the plea bargain that led to Garcia’s being freed on bail despite being charged with plunder.

Sulit was one of the signatories of the plea bargain between state prosecutors and the retired major general.

In a brief statement issued shortly after noon on Wednesday, acting Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro said he had enforced the preventive suspension ordered by the Office of the President.

Sulit is under orders to respond to the charge within 10 days upon her receipt of the document. She has to submit her response to the deputy executive secretary for legal affairs.

She may be removed by President Aquino from her post if found guilty of the charge.

At press time, Sulit had yet to respond to calls and text messages seeking her comment on the Palace action.

Injury to gov’t

By authority of the President, Ochoa denied on June 3 Sulit’s motion asking that Malacañang suspend the proceedings in her case.

The formal charge states that Sulit “caused undue injury to the government” and gave Garcia “unwarranted benefits, advantage and preference through manifest partiality, evident bad faith, and gross inexcusable negligence.”

“[Sulit], together with her deputies/assistants, impaired deliberately the case for the prosecution by ignoring and abandoning evidence favorable to the interest of the government and presenting evidence adverse to its cause,” part of the document reads.

Malacañang also said Sulit fell short in discharging her “mandated duty in prosecuting the offenders and enforcing their criminal, civil and administrative liabilities with utmost responsibility, integrity and professional competence.”

Malacañang said that Sulit was being placed under preventive suspension for 90 days “considering the seriousness of the charge [and] the existence of a prima facie case against her,” and that her remaining in office “may pose a threat to the safety and integrity of the records and other evidence.”

Palace action hailed

Malacañang’s action against Sulit was welcomed by lawmakers involved in inquiries into the controversial agreement with Garcia.

Sen. Teofisto Guingona III said the suspension was “in consonance” with the recommendation of the Senate blue ribbon committee, which he chairs and which had looked into the plea bargain.

“Malacañang is therefore paying attention to and following recommendations. This is the way it should be done,” Guingona said.

The Senate blue ribbon committee recommended to the President in March the removal of Sulit and other state prosecutors for “betraying public trust,” and the institution of administrative and criminal proceedings against them.

The committee said charges for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act should be filed against then Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez and the prosecutors.

“We have three bases for these recommendations. They abandoned, weakened and muddled the case to let Garcia off the hook,” Guingona said then.

Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr., chair of the House committee on justice that filed a complaint against Sulit and three other prosecutors and recommended to Mr. Aquino their removal from office, said the preventive suspension was necessary to prevent Sulit from tampering with important documents.

But Tupas, along with Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Javier Colmenares, a committee member, said Sulit should have been fired.

“We hope that the Office of the President decides on the main case of removing Prosecutor Sulit for gross negligence and betrayal of public trust soonest so as to give way to a new leadership at the Office of the Special Prosecutor,” Tupas said.

Chingkoe tax scam

Colmenares said Sulit’s facilitation of the plea bargain with Garcia had forever disqualified her from being a public prosecutor of corruption cases.

He pointed out that she had also handled many big corruption cases against certain persons and companies, and that her suspension ensured that she would not commit the same actions in these cases.

Colmenares called on the President to exercise his power under Section 8 of the Ombudsman Law by firing Sulit.

He said it would be impossible for the new Ombudsman to be named by Mr. Aquino to work with a special prosecutor like Sulit.

He added that the cleanup of the Office of the Ombudsman should be thorough and swift.

“[Sulit] should also be charged for bungling the Chingkoe tax credit scam case,” the lawmaker said.

Colmenares said Sulit had failed to prosecute Faustino and Gloria Chingkoe for plundering more than P2 billion in public funds and allowed them “to go abroad and jump bail.”

The Department of Justice had given the go-ahead for the Bureau of Internal Revenue to file a P104.5-million tax evasion case against the Chingkoes in connection with the multibillion-peso tax credit scam in the mid-’90s.

The couple are believed to be in China although they also own property in Canada. With reports from Leila B. Salaverria, TJ Burgonio and Cynthia D. Balana