PCGG presses forfeiture case vs Lucio Tan

Lucio Tan. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) has asked the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division to order taipan Lucio Tan to turn over to the government or pay the corresponding value of his assets, saying it had presented enough proof that these were ill-gotten.

In its memorandum on its forfeiture case against Tan, the PCGG, through the Office of the Solicitor General, also asked for P1 billion in exemplary damages as well as attorneys fees, litigation expenses and treble judicial costs.

The forfeiture case against Tan and several other defendants has been pending for over 20 years, but is in its final stages in the anti-graft court because both parties have finished presenting their evidence. The filing of the memorandum usually follows.

The government had alleged that Tan’s assets were part of the ill-gotten wealth of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, and should be reconveyed to the state.

But Tan earlier said the state’s evidence failed to show he had unlawfully acquired his assets or that these belonged to the government. He also asked for P300 million in damages.

According to the PCGG, it had presented more than preponderant evidence that the assets and properties involved in the forfeiture case form part of the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses. Tan and the Marcoses failed to refute its witnesses and documentary exhibits, it added.

It pointed out that while it presented 26 witnesses and 520 documentary evidences to show the ill-gotten character of the properties in the forfeiture case, the defendants only presented documentary evidence consisting of their corporate records.

PCGG also said Tan’s claim for damages had no legal basis since they failed to present any evidence to show that they are entitled to the amount  sought.