Whistle-blower Rabusa faces plunder rap

MANILA, Philippines—Citing whistle-blower George Rabusa’s own admission that he pocketed money from the military, an ex-state auditor filed a plunder complaint against Rabusa before the Office of the Ombudsman.

Former auditor Arturo Besana, who was earlier implicated in the Armed Forces corruption scam, cited in his complaint Rabusa’s own complaint-affidavit that admitted he committed various offenses involving “billions of pesos.”

For one, said Besana, the former Army colonel had declared in an affidavit that as military budget officer, he had taken P200 million from personnel services or allowances of soldiers, converted them into dollars and wired them to a bank in Bangkok, Thailand.

In another affidavit, Rabusa admitting depositing P164,102,789.44 in his own account at the Security Bank in Makati City, “which on its face clearly constitutes the crime of plunder,” Besana said.

“It is imperative that he be investigated by the Honorable Office of the Ombudsman, the Department of Justice, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, and other government agencies. Curiously, despite his numerous appearances at the Senate investigation, respondent Rabusa is currently not facing any investigation for obvious and unmistakable violations of the law,” he said.

When contacted for comment, Rabusa said he has not received a copy of the complaint and would let his lawyer answer it.

Besana joined the COA in 1961 as auditing examiner and served as resident auditor of various government departments and agencies from 1978 until he retired in 2001.

After his retirement, he was among 22 persons included by Rabusa in a plunder case he filed with the Department of Justice, but Besana was exonerated on Jan. 4 this year.

Rabusa had alleged during a Senate investigation that past AFP chiefs Angelo Reyes, Roy Cimatu and Diomedio Villanueva received hefty payoffs from a military slush fund taken from soldiers’ pay and intelligence funds—charges denied by the military chiefs.