SC grants DOJ request for court transfer of Rasuman cases to Manila

By: Tetch Torres-Tupas - 11 years ago

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court has granted the Department of Justice’s request to transfer to Manila the court cases filed against Jachob “Coco” Rasuman, the suspected leader of an investment scam group operating in Lanao del Sur.

In a resolution, the high court ordered the Clerks of Court of Cagayan De Oro City Branches 20 and 23 to forward the records of the cases filed in their branches to the Office of the Clerk of Court in Manila.

It also ordered the Executive Judge in Manila to raffle the cases among the RTC branches in Manila.

Rasuman is detained at the National Bureau of Investigation and most of the parties involved have temporarily relocated in Manila for fear of their safety, said the DoJ through Prosecutor General Claro Arellano said.

The DoJ said it would be costly to transport Rasuman from NBI to Cagayan De Oro or Misamis during trial.

“The security of the prosecutors and more importantly the witnesses is vulnerable to threats considering the political and economic status of the personalities involved and that the principal accused is currently detained at the NBI and constantly transporting him from Manila to Cagayan De Oro and back poses not only great security risks, but also increases the financial cost on the part of the government,” the DoJ said.

Rasuman’s and his alleged accomplices’ cases are pending before the Cagayan De Oro regional trial court Branch 20 and before the Misamis Oriental RTC Branch 23 both are for syndicated estafa.

Aside from Rasuman, his co-accused include his father, former Public Works and Highways Undersecretary Bashir Dimaampo Rasuman, Emma Rasuman, Bashir Rasuman Jr., Princess Aliah Tomawis Rasuman, Jerome Rasuman and several others.