MANILA, Philippines–Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales has approved the filing of forfeiture proceedings in the Sandiganbayan against former Justice Secretary Hernando “Nani” Perez to recover $2 million given to him by businessman Mark Jimenez to allegedly stop his harassment during the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Also named in the forfeiture petition were Perez’s wife, Rosario, his brother-in-law Ramon Antonio Arceo Jr. and business associate Ernest DL Escaler. Perez served as justice secretary from 2001 to 2003.
The petition said that sometime in February 2001, Jimenez, also known as Mario B. Crespo, was “forced to give in to the demand of Perez and Escaler” for the payment of $2 million in exchange for the cessation of threats and intimidation against him.
In compliance with the demand, fund transfers were made by Jimenez to the bank accounts of Perez, Escaler and Arceo. Investigation showed that Perez, his wife and Escaler were all in Hong Kong at the time the fund transfers were made.
At the same time, records showed that Perez did not disclose in his 2001 and 2002 statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) his or his wife’s financial interest of at least $1.7 million transferred to their accounts by Escaler.
The petition said the issuance of the writ was necessary to secure the government’s claim so as not to leave it with the proverbial “empty bag.”
In November 2002, then Manila Representative Jimenez alleged that Perez had demanded $2 million from him in February 2001 (around P94 million at the time) in exchange for not being compelled to submit affidavits against deposed President Joseph Estrada, for whom Jimenez had acted as a financial adviser.
The affidavits would have been damaging to Estrada who was accused of accepting bribes in the $470-million power plant deal between National Power Corp. and Argentina’s Industrias Metalurgicas Pescarmona Sociedad Anonima (Impsa) in 1998.
A special action team, two special panels and the Office of the Ombudsman investigators conducted a preliminary investigation lasting five years.
Jimenez had withdrawn his complaint but the Ombudsman filed four cases in the Sandiganbayan in 2008 against Perez, his wife Rosario, Arceo and Escaler based on the Jimenez complaint.
The Ombudsman filed two graft cases—robbery with intimidation case and falsification case for failing to declare in his SALN some $1.7 million.
The charges had been dismissed by the Sandiganbayan but the Ombudsman recently filed a motion seeking to overturn the dismissal of the falsification case.–Cynthia D. Balana with a report from Inquirer Research
Sources: Inquirer Archives
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