Ex-Speaker de Venecia’s testimony sought in Abalos corruption trial

MANILA, Philippines—The Office of the Special Prosecutor wants former House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. to testify in the next hearing of the trial of former elections chief Benjamin Abalos, who is accused of graft in connection with the controversial national broadband network deal with China’s ZTE Corp.

Abalos was also recently charged with a second graft case arising from the same deal, along with former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo and former Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza.

Abalos’ trial on the first graft charge stemmed from allegations that he had taken an interest and intervened in a contract that was not related to his duties as chairman of the Commission on Elections.  The NBN deal was eventually scuttled at the height of a corruption scandal involving allegations of overpricing and bribery. Abalos denied any wrongdoing.

In a request for the issuance of subpoena filed on Thursday afternoon, the prosecution asked the Sandiganbayan’s 4th Division to direct De Venecia, lawyer Oliver Lozano and Fabian Fabian from the Philippine Airlines to appear and testify at the next hearing on Abalos’ case on January 24.

The request was signed by Assistant Special Prosecutor III Jacinto Dela Cruz.

De Venecia used to be allied with the Arroyos, but their relationship soured when his son and namesake, businessman Jose ”Joey” De Venecia III, spoke out against alleged irregularities in the deal. The younger De Venecia’s Amsterdam Holdings Inc. was a losing bidder for the NBN project.

The former House speaker wrote of an alleged secret meeting in ZTE Corp.’s headquarters in Shenzhen, China, on Nov. 2, 2006 in his biography. He said Abalos and the Arroyos were present at the meeting.

In the book, De Venecia said Abalos appeared to be at home in the ZTE headquarters and dominated the discussion on the NBN project, while the former President made no comment. Her husband also hardly said a word.

De Venecia said he came to be at the meeting because the former President invited him to play golf in Shenzhen. At that time, he was in Hong Kong with his wife Gina. He said he had no idea that they were going to play golf at the ZTE golf course and have lunch there.

He also said n the book that after the golf game and lunch at ZTE, Arroyo changed her plan to have the NBN project under a build-operate-transfer scheme. Instead, the project would be under a government-to-government contract requiring a loan guarantee.

De Venecia and his son are also among the witnesses the prosecution intends to present in the new cases against former President Arroyo.

The cases are yet to go on trial. The court has directed the Office of the Ombudsman to allow Arroyo and her co-accused to file motions for reconsideration of the Ombudsman’s decision to have them indicted before the court makes a determination of probable cause to proceed with the trial.

The other witnesses listed on the charge sheet against Arroyo and her co-accused are project consultants Rodolfo Lozada and Dante Madriaga, ZTE officials Yu Yong and Fan Yang; former Department of Transportation and Communication official Lorenzo Formoso; and representatives from the DOTC, NEDA, Wack Wack Golf and Country Club and the Bureau of Immigration.