Government bucks bid to quash raps vs Estrada coaccused

Former President Joseph Estrada INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

While former President Joseph Estrada himself is now scot-free, it appears that a coaccused in a plunder case will not get off the hook as easily.

State prosecutors have opposed Yolanda Ricaforte’s motion to quash the plunder charge against her for which Estrada had been convicted and pardoned by the Arroyo administration.

Special prosecutors have asked the Sandiganbayan to deny Ricaforte’s motion, arguing that the amended information filed in the plunder case was correct and the preliminary investigation  properly done, thus her right to due process was not violated.

The special prosecutors under the Office of the Ombudsman disputed her claim that there was no allegation of criminal intent in the amended information.

In a consolidated comment filed before the Sandiganbayan’s Special Division, they said it was clear from the amended information that Estrada’s coaccused “conspired” with the former president to enable him “to amass, accumulate, or acquire ill-gotten wealth” amounting to P4 billion.

“In the case at bar, the second paragraph of the amended information alleged in general terms how the accused committed the crime of plunder. It used the words ‘in connivance/conspiracy with his coaccused.’ Following the ruling in Quitlong, these words are sufficient to allege the conspiracy of the accused with the former president in committing the crime of plunder,” they said.

Wanted by FBI

Ricaforte had earlier asked the Sandiganbayan Special Division to withdraw the warrant for her arrest and to remand the plunder case against her to the Ombudsman for preliminary investigation.

Ricaforte was reported to have fled to the United States at the height of the corruption scandal that led to Estrada’s ouster in 2001 and subsequent conviction for plunder in 2007. She is on the wanted list of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

According to state prosecutors, Ricaforte acted as the auditor of illegal gambling payoffs to Estrada and opened bank accounts in her name where the payoffs were deposited. The Sandiganbayan issued the warrant for her arrest in 2001.

Her motion came after another Estrada coaccused, Jaime Dichaves, succeeded in getting the antigraft court to grant his motion for reinvestigation of the case and the quashing of the warrant for his arrest.

Contrary to Ricaforte’s claim that her right to procedural due process was violated, the special prosecutors said a valid preliminary investigation of the case was held.

Ricaforte had claimed that she had left the country before the Ombudsman began its hearings, and that she was not included in the original complaint and only charged in the supplemental complaint.

Ricaforte admitted that she was served a copy of the supplemental complaint on Feb. 3, 2001.

The special prosecutors, however, asserted that she was duly notified and furnished copies of the complaints, and hence, was given all the opportunity to be heard before the Ombudsman resolved to charge her for plunder in April 2001.

Contrary to her claim, a copy of the Ombudsman’s April 2001 resolution was delivered to her known address at 25 Freedom Avenue, Area I, Veterans Village, Pasong Tamo in Quezon City, and that the warrant for her arrest was valid, they said.

The comment was filed by Deputy Special Prosecutor Robert E. Kallos and Assistant Special Prosecutors III Pilarita T. Lapitan and Kristine Jennifer E. Carreon.