Prosecutors seek arrest of Dichaves for plunder

After completing their preliminary investigation , prosecutors from the Office of the Ombudsman have found  businessman Jaime Dichaves liable in a plunder case and have asked the Sandiganbayan Special Division to order his arrest.

In seeking Dischaves’ arrest, the Ombudsman’s Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) said the possibility of the businessman’s  flight was “more probable” now that he was charged with a nonbailable offense.

The prosecutors said the evidence showed that Dichaves had conspired with former President Joseph Estrada to amass ill-gotten profits from the sale of Belle Corp. shares to the government. The money was deposited in Estrada’s “Jose Velarde” bank account.

“It cannot be gainsaid that Dichaves appears to have conspired with the former president to enable the latter to, among other things, amass wealth out of the profit and commissions from the sale of Belle shares to the government. Their concerted action indicates a common design and concurrence of sentiments to amass that amount of wealth,” it said.

Estrada had been convicted of the offense but was subsequently pardoned by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo while Dichaves has yet to undergo a trial since he left the country after Estrada was impeached.

The OSP said the businessman was able to  escape the law by seeking refuge abroad.  Dichaves did not return to the country until after Estrada was pardoned.

“Being an accused now for this nonbailable crime, it is certain that he would escape the long arm of the law again,” the OSP said.

Warrant recalled

Earlier, upon Dichaves’ motion, the antigraft court’s Special Division recalled his arrest warrant and directed the Office of the Ombudsman to complete its preliminary investigation.  Dichaves also has a pending motion before the court to be allowed to leave the country for business purposes.

The court had earlier allowed him to travel to Hong Kong and China on business, although he was not able to leave on the scheduled departure date because of a problem with the case number cited in the order given to the Bureau of Immigration.

In finding him liable for plunder, the OSP said Dichaves orchestrated the consummation of the Belle Corp. shares transaction and had received a check representing his commission that he then deposited in the Velarde account.

Dichaves has denied giving Estrada a P189.7-million commission from the sale of the shares and said that the amount was Willy Ng Ocier’s contribution to a common fund, a collective investment of Filipino-Chinese businessmen that he managed.

Fear for safety

According to Dichaves, he opened the “Jose Velarde” account on behalf of the common fund investors, and used the Velarde name as an alias out of fear for his security and safety.

He also cited the Jan. 10, 2012,  affidavit of Ocier that was submitted to the Office of the Ombudsman, where Ocier stated that Dichaves had nothing to do with the purchase of the Belle shares, and that the P189.7 million he gave Dichaves was his personal investment in the common fund.

But the Ombudsman panel countered that an earlier Ocier affidavit in 2001, which was adopted as part of his testimony in court, showed that Dichaves participated in acquiring the Belle shares. It said that Dichaves had also conveyed to Ocier Estrada’s instructions that the government’s purchase of the shares would only push through if Ocier would agree to give him the commission from it.