Sandiganbayan junks fertilizer fund case vs Marina Sula

The Sandiganbayan has thrown out the fertilizer fund scam case against pork barrel scam witness Marina Sula over unreasonable delays in the Ombudsman’s investigation.

In an eight-page resolution, the court’s Fifth Division said the investigation of her P3.25-million graft case took “even close to 12 years” from 2004 until the charges were brought to the court on Sept. 14, 2016.

Sula’s case also languished for long stretches of time during the preliminary investigation stage, the court ruled.

At one point, it took state prosecutors eight months to just issue an order for the accused to file their counter-affidavits.

Sula was implicated in the alleged conspiracy with former Palawan Governor Mario Joel Reyes, and former Department of Agriculture regional officials, Dennis Araullo and Rodolfo Guieb, to misuse the allocation under the Farm Inputs and Farm Implements Program in 2004. —Vince F. Nonato