Court asked to reconsider dismissal of Neri graft case

The Office of the Ombudsman has appealed the Sandiganbayan’s dismissal of the graft case against former socioeconomic planning secretary Romulo Neri over the Arroyo administration’s botched national broadband network (NBN) deal with Chinese firm ZTE Corp.

In an eight-page motion for reconsideration, the Ombudsman’s Office of the Special Prosecutor urged the anti-graft court’s Fifth Division to reverse its Sept. 9 decision granting Neri’s demurrer to the evidence.

The Ombudsman had accused Neri of graft for having a financial interest in the NBN project when he allegedly brokered and later approved the deal. But the court cleared him of the charges as it found the prosecution’s evidence to be insufficient in establishing this supposed interest.

Neri ‘liable’

In its appeal, the Ombudsman insisted that Neri should be held liable because he “knows for a fact that he will be given a commission or facilitation money if the transaction with ZTE will materialize.”

The National Economic and Development Authority Investment Credit Committee co-chaired by Neri approved the $329.48-million contract with ZTE despite the existence of a better and cheaper offer by competing proponent Amsterdam Holdings Inc., the motion stated.

It also cited the testimony by Dante Madriaga, the chief designer of the ZTE project, who said its original cost was $130 million, but $80 million of that was a “patong (mark-up)” to be divided between ZTE and the Filipino officials. .

“Surely, the evidence presented is sufficient to sustain the indictment. In fact, the commission of the crime and the accused and his participation in the commission of the crime charged was established,”

prosecutors stressed.

Golf with ZTE

It noted that Neri met and played golf with representatives of ZTE, along with then-Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos.  Meanwhile, it was also Neri who sent engineer and whistleblower Rodolfo Lozada to meet with AHI president Jose de Venecia III—because otherwise, “how [else] will Lozada come to know of the transaction if not through accused Neri?”

By doing so, Neri was trying to find means to “improve the offer of ZTE, who obviously was already the choice,” the motion read.

“He did not reject outright the idea of dealing with AHI because he knows the advantages of their offer and how they can possibly integrate AHI’s offer with ZTE’s offer,” it said.

Neri knew that he stood to gain from the transaction, the motion argued, citing his own testimony before the Senate blue ribbon committee.