Devanadera asks Sandigan to junk graft case

Agnes Devanadera. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Former Government Corporate Counsel Agnes Devanadera has asked the Sandiganbayan to dismiss the graft case filed against her for advising the state-run Philippine National Construction Corp. (PNCC) to enter into an allegedly irregular P6.2-billion debt settlement with a foreign company.

The Ombudsman indicted Devanadera and 18 former officials of PNCC last month on grounds that the 2006 compromise agreement with British creditor Radstock Securities Ltd. contained concessions that were “contrary to law” and disadvantageous to the government.

In a 31-page motion she filed on Monday, Devanadera asked the antigraft court’s First Division to suspend the issuance of a warrant of arrest against her. She also sought a judicial determination that there is no probable cause for the case to proceed to trial.

SC ruling

Devanadera argued that the Ombudsman “misappreciated” a 2009 ruling by the Supreme Court that voided the PNCC-Radstock settlement for violating the Constitution and pertinent laws. The ruling dubbed the agreement a “pillage of the public coffers that ranks among one of the most brazen and hideous in the history of this country.”

Devanadera, who had served as solicitor general and justice secretary, said the Ombudsman indicted her on “the mistaken belief that [the SC ruling] mandates it.”

She said the high court never held the PNCC board criminally liable for the debt payment deal, though it found the board, not her, negligent.

According to her motion, if the PNCC board was not liable for the compromise agreement, there was “much less” reason for her to be indicted for “merely providing legal advice.”

“She did not propose it. She neither negotiated nor approved it. She did not even endorse it. The PNCC Board did all the evaluation presumably using their business judgment,” it said.

Probable cause

According to her motion, the Ombudsman failed to show probable cause against her, leaving that “burden” to the Sandiganbayan. “The unseen evil that that practice breeds is that it practically requires Devanadera to prove her innocence.”

Her coaccused includes former Quezon City Rep. Ma. Theresa “Maite” Defensor, who served as PNCC president and CEO; former PNCC board chair Renato Valdecantos, former president and CEO Rolando Macasaet, former chief operating officer Arthur Aguilar, and former board members Braulio Balbas Jr., Romulo Coronado, Basilio Cruz Jr., Victor Pineda, Erwin Tanunliong, Hermogenes Concepcion Jr., Raymundo Francisco, Ottomama Benito, Enrique Cuejilo Jr., Roy Eduardo Lucero, Fermin Lusung Sr., Jeremy Parulan, Marvin Paule and Antonio Villar.

The Aug. 17, 2006 compromise agreement was meant to settle the collection suit filed by Radstock with the Court of Appeals. To settle its P6.185-billion liability, the PNCC board gave Radstock 19 government-owned real properties worth P3.188 billion.

PNCC also assigned shares to Radstock worth P713 million, equivalent to 20 percent of the state firm’s capital stock. It also gave Radstock half of its 6 percent share of the gross toll revenue of Manila North Tollways Corp., from 2008 to 2035, valued at about P1.287 billion.

No power

State prosecutors said the PNCC board had no power to offer the settlement amount and could not assign the toll fees to private entities, such as Radstock.

The company also cannot transfer government-owned real property to Radstock without public bidding and complying with existing property transfer laws, they said.

They said the assignment by PNCC of “substantially all of its assets” in order to pay Radstock was against the interests of its other creditors, including the national government.