Ronnie Ricketts’ graft trial set to begin February 2016

The graft trial of Optical Media Board (OMB) chair and former action star Ronnie Ricketts is set to start on Feb. 2016.

During the pre-trial on Thursday, the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division set Rickett’s trial proper on Feb. 15 and 16 next year.

Both the defense and prosecutors have submitted its pre-trial brief which contained the list of witnesses and pieces of evidence.

Ricketts faces a graft charge for allegedly ordering the pull-out of 121 boxes of DVDs from the OMB office which would have served as evidence against counterfeiters in 2010.

READ: Sandigan finds probable cause to try Ronnie Ricketts for graft | OMB chair Ronnie Ricketts pleads not guilty to graft | Ronnie Ricketts charged with graft over seized pirated discs

These items which were seized in Quiapo on May 2010 were supposedly delivered to the OMB office, then reloaded later in the evening onto a vehicle owned by Sky High Marketing Corp. even without a gate pass.

Ombudsman prosecutors said Ricketts should be held liable because the seizure of items prevented the filing of appropriate charges against the supposed counterfeiters. The Ombudsman accused Ricketts of graft for giving undue advantage to Sky High.

The prosecution intends to present as witnesses investigators from the Ombudsman Field Investigation Office (FIO), as well as two security guards at the OMB building who were on duty when the alleged pull-out took place.

The prosecution also intends to present as evidence certification from the police and the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) that the DVDs and VCDs confiscated from Sky High were among those destroyed at the Philippine National Police headquarters during the IPOPHL’s June 2010 anniversary.

READ: Ricketts asks Sandigan to quash graft case, puts blame on deputy | Charged with graft, Ronnie Ricketts posts bail

Meanwhile, Ricketts himself intends to become a witness and show his phone records to prove that he did not give the go-signal to co-accused Glenn Perez, the computer operator who allegedly supervised the pull-out of 121 boxes of DVD s from the OMB office.

Ricketts also blamed his deputy and co-accused Executive Director Cyrus Paul Valenzuela for knowing about the incident and failing to stop it from happening.