Senator Juan Ponce Enrile INQUIRER PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES
The Supreme Court has denied the motion for reconsideration of the Ombudsman which seeks a reversal of its August 2015 decision granting Senator Juan Ponce Enrile’s request for a bill of particulars in connection with his plunder case for his alleged involvement in the pork barrel scam.
A bill of particulars is filed to make the allegations more specific. It is filed if a defendant in a criminal case believes he is not sufficiently informed of the crime with which he is charged and is not in a position to defend himself properly and adequately.
With the denial of the motion for reconsideration, the Office of the Ombudsman has been required to provide Enrile with a bill of particulars containing the following:
* A breakdown of the amounts of the “kickbacks or commissions” and how the amount P172 million was arrived at.
* The particular overt acts they committed to constitute the “combination.”
* A brief description of the “identified projects” where the kickbacks or commissions were received.
* Approximate dates or at least the year of receipt of the alleged kickbacks.
* Name of Janet Lim Napoles’ non-government organizations which were the recipient or target implementors of the PDAF projects.
* Government agencies where Enrile allegedly endorsed Napoles’ NGOs.
Enrile insisted before the high court that his inquiries as to the nature and details of the case against him are necessary so that he could prepare to meet the issues at the trial.
The senator went to the high court after the Sandiganbayan denied his motion for bill of particulars.
Enrile said, the Sandiganbayan’s act of denying his motion for bill of particulars “is a denial of due process and a serious violation of petitioner’s constitutional right to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation against him. This is certainly grave abuse of discretion.”
They added that with the Sandiganbayan’s denial, Enrile is left to guess his act of participation in the crime of plunder.
Enrile is one of the three senators accused of plunder in connection with the PDAF scam. JE
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