Ombudsman eyes taking Sandigan ruling on Luy’s back accounts to SC

MANILA, Philippines—The Office of the Ombudsman is considering taking to the Supreme Court the decision of the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division allowing the opening of the bank accounts of pork barrel scam primary whistleblower Benhur Luy and the other witnesses in the supposed multi-billion racket.

“The prosecution is considering taking the case to the Supreme Court,” Ombudsman spokesman Asryman Rafanan said Thursday at a press conference.

Only the anti-graft court’s fifth division allowed the opening of the bank accounts while the other two divisions handling pork barrel scam cases turned down the request made by the camp of Janet Lim-Napoles.

Office of the Ombudsman. PHOTO from www.ombudsman.gov.ph

“The prosecution respects the position of the court in handling the cases. There are remedies available [for the prosecution],” Rafanan said.

The anti-graft court’s 5th division allowed the opening of bank accounts not only of Benhur Luy but also of his mother Gertrudes Luy, as well the other whistleblowers, Merlina Suñas and Marina Sula.

The accounts are in the following banks:

Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI)
Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company (Metro Bank & TCO)
United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB)
Metrobank Card Corp.
Banco De Oro Unibank Inc. (BDO)
Land Bank of the Philippines
Philippine Savings Bank (PS Bank)
Citibank

The court also reaffirmed the granting of Napoles’ request to issue subpoena on the Land Registration Authority (LRA) for the records of real property under the names of Luy, Suñas and Sula, as well as to the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Bureau of Immigration (BI) for the records of registered vehicles and travel history, respectively, also of Luy, Suñas and Sula.

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