Agnes Devanadera ( VINCE NONATO / INQUIRER FILE PHOTO)
After nearly seven years, the antigraft court has quashed criminal complaints against former Government Corporate Counsel Agnes Devanadera, citing “inordinate and unreasonable” delays by the Ombudsman investigation, and nearly a month after the Sandiganbayan junked the same complaints against her coaccused private respondents.
In a 12-page resolution promulgated on May 16 and penned by Sandiganbayan First Division chair Associate Justice Efren de la Cruz, the court dismissed the graft case against Devanadera over the anomalous Philippine National Construction Corp. (PNCC) P6.185-billion debt settlement in 2006.
The resolution granted an urgent motion filed by Devanadera’s camp on April 18, asking that the information for the criminal case be quashed, invoking “unreasonable delays” in the investigation of the Ombudsman.
The motion also cited a resolution by the court on April 7 granting the motions to dismiss by 12 former PNCC executives on the same grounds.