Real estate developer Delfin Lee. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Detained real estate developer Delfin Lee cried foul over the statement of Justice Secretary Leila De Lima likening him to retired General Jovito Palparan, who was recently arrested, and other high profile persons on the government’s wanted list.
“Placing me in the same situation as General Palparan is clearly meant to detract from the truth—as all avenues for me to clear my name have been blocked so as not to inconvenience the absurd accusations they have levelled against me,” Lee, through his lawyer, said in a statement.
Lee, who was also arrested in Manila early this year is currently detained in the Pampanga jail.
Lee insisted that there is no subsisting criminal case against him.
He has a current petition with the Supreme Court questioning his arrest, detention and bid to stop the trial for syndicated estafa for allegedly defrauding the government’s housing financier Home Mutual Development Fund (HDMF) and a number of homebuyers.
In his motion for early resolution he urged the high court that if quick resolution was not feasible, then, it should consider allowing his temporary liberty.
His motion insisted that his current detention lacks basis since the Court of Appeals already nullified the Information (charge sheet) against him for syndicated estafa.
“The lone Information for Syndicated Estafa in Criminal Case No. 18480 has already been quashed by the Court of Appeals in CA G.R. SP No. 121346… and that such lone Information has not yet been revived by the Honorable Supreme Court,” Lee noted in his recent motion.
Thus, he said there is no reason or legal justification for his continued detention as well as the ongoing trial before the Pampanga court.
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