Watchdog files case vs Sandigan justices

A NEWLY formed anticorruption watchdog Wednesday filed a criminal complaint against the three Sandiganbayan justices who approved the controversial plea bargain of plunder suspect ex-military comptroller Carlos Garcia.

Risa Baraquel of the Akbayan partylist group, rebel soldier Danilo Lim and Leah Navarro of the Onward Malinis na Gobyerno (OMG) were personally welcomed by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima when they filed the complaint at the Department of Justice.

They accused Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Edilberto Sandoval and Associate Justices Teresita Baldos and Samuel Martires of violating Article 206 of the Revised Penal Code for “knowingly and willfully” granting an “unjust interlocutory order.”

Interlocutory orders refer to rulings of the courts which do not terminate or finally dispose of the main case.

“This is rather unprecedented. This is the first time a criminal complaint is filed at the DOJ against justices of the Sandiganbayan,” De Lima told a news briefing.

She said that being a criminal complaint and the Sandiganbayan justices not being impeachable officials, the case could be recognized by the justice department.

And while the Ombudsman has the “primary authority” to investigate cases against public officials like Sandiganbayan justices, the Ombudsman did not have “exclusive authority” over such complaints, De Lima said.

But she admitted that the Ombudsman, being the state’s primary anti-graft investigator, would have the final say on the feasibility of the complaint.

In their joint complaint, Baraquel et al said the Sandiganbayan’s May 9 order, which approved the controversial plea bargain agreement, was done with undue haste since it was released a few days after Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez’s resignation.

“The [Sandiganbayan] beat to the punch whatever action or decision on the case the incoming Ombudsman might take,” they said.

Navarro said the anti-graft court’s order was “patently irregular” since the plea bargain was forged while the Sandiganbayan was conducting the formal trial of the plunder case against Garcia.