Court denies Enrile’s plea to junk graft case

FORMER SENATOR Juan Ponce F. Enrile will go to trial for plunder charges as the Sandiganbayan has dismissed his motion to junk the P172.8-million graft case in connection with his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam in 2012.

In a 38-page resolution penned by Presiding Justice Amparo M. Cabotaje-Tang, the anti- graft court said that Mr. Enrile’s motion to quash was denied for “lack of merit.”

Mr. Enrile asked the court in September to junk the case against him, saying that the information and the prosecutor’s bill of particulars do not provide “particular overt acts” that would constitute the crime of plunder.

He added that the prosecution, during the bail hearing, was not able to produce any document that would show that he received “a single peso from the P172million plunder charge.”

Mr. Enrile said that the information filed did not specify the “main plunderer” and how much each of the five accused received as he invoked the MacapagalArroyo vs. People case.

However, the Sandiganbayan asserted that it found Mr. Enrile’s arguments “bereft of merits,” as the information filed against him constitute the crime of plunder, saying that when the Supreme Court (SC) partially granted his motion for a bill of particulars, the SC categorically ruled that “such motion presupposes valid information.”

“The purpose of a bill of particulars is to supply vague facts or allegations in the complaint or information to enable the accused to properly plead and prepare for trial. It presupposes a valid information, one that presents all the elements of the crime charged, albeit under vague terms,” said the court. —