Cedric Lee blames fight between political rivals for graft case

Businessman Cedric Lee claimed on Friday that he is only caught in a fight between political rivals in relation to the graft and malversation charges he is facing before the Sandiganbayan.

In a phone interview with reporters, Lee also alleged that the administration has a role in the charges as it builds up a separate tax evasion case against him.

Lee denied allegations that he was involved in the anomalous release of a P23.47 million bank loan for the construction of a public market in Bataan that did not push through.

Former Mariveles mayor Angel Peliglorio Jr., allegedly in connivance with Lee, authorized the release of the bank loan.

In the interview, Lee denied that he had a hand in the failure of the local government to implement the project.

He said the project did not push through because the incumbent Mariveles mayor Jesse Concepcion did not want to implement the construction of the public market because it is a project of the latter’s political rival Peliglorio.

“Naipit ako sa away pulitika nilang dalawa… Hindi ko naman kasalanan na ayaw nila ituloy ang project,” Lee said.

He said he sees the role of Malacañang in including him in the malversation and graft case even though he had no hand in the failed implementation.

This as the Department of Justice is hearing a tax evasion case filed against him by the Bureau of Internal Revenue for the alleged failure of Lee’s company, Izumo Contractors, to pay P194.47 million in taxes from 2006 to 2009.

Lee said the local government of Bataan still owed him P8 million after it only paid him P16 million of the total project cost.

He said it is no longer his fault that the project did not commence because of politics.

Lee also hit the Ombudsman for building up the case against him even when he claimed to have been kept out of the loop in the investigation.

“Hindi man lang ako binigyan ng patas na laban sa Ombudsman (I was not given a fair fight in the Ombudsman),” he said, adding that the Ombudsman did not consider his counter affidavit in the investigation.

Lee said he would file a judicial determination of probable cause before the Sandiganbayan Third Division which will hear his case before posting bail.

The Ombudsman said Lee and Peliglorio are liable for malversation for violating Article 217 of the Revised Penal Code, which penalizes misappropriation or malversation of public funds due to abandonment or negligence.

It also said they are liable for graft because the payment for P14.056 million or a portion of the bank loans was debited from the municipality’s Internal Revenue Allotment, to the disadvantage of government and in violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. AU