Senator Lito Lapid INQUIRER PHOTO
SEN. LITO Lapid on Monday sought the dismissal of his graft case in the Sandiganbayan over his supposed role in the P728-million fertilizer fund scam, saying the unreasonable delay in the resolution of the case violated his constitutional rights.
Lapid is accused of approving the purchase of 3,880 liters of liquid fertilizers, which the Office of the Ombudsman claimed was overpriced by P4.3 million, when he was still the governor of Pampanga.
The Ombudsman said the amount was part of the multimillion-peso fertilizer distribution project, which was allegedly used to bankroll the campaign of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the 2004 general elections.
‘In the interest of justice’
In a 25-page motion, Lapid also urged the antigraft court’s First Division to postpone “in the interest of justice” his scheduled arraignment on Jan. 14 pending the resolution of his petition.
“From the foregoing, Senator Lapid respectfully submits that since the totality of the evidence presented against him fail to engender a well-founded belief that he probably violated (the law), this honorable court must dismiss this case,” Lapid’s motion read in part.
He said setting aside the Ombudsman’s November 2015 resolution finding probable cause to indict him would “finally put an end to his decade-long search for a nonexistent probable cause.”