Philippine Daily Inquirer

GMA contests plunder indictment

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FORMER President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo yesterday asked the Sandiganba­yan to determine whether there was sufficient basis for the Office of the Ombudsman to have filed plunder charges against her.

In a motion for judicial determinat­ion of probable cause filed by her lead counsel Anacleto Diaz, Arroyo asked the antigraft court to order the Office of the Ombudsman to produce the original resolution dated Nov. 14, 2011, on the preliminar­y investigat­ion of the case.

Arroyo said she still had no copy of the Ombudsman’s decision upholding the plunder informatio­n filed against her and dismissing her motion for reconsider­ation.

She said she only learned about it from the broadcast media.

The case stemmed from a plunder complaint against Arroyo filed by private complainan­ts Risa Hontiveros­Baraquel and Danilo Lim, among others, in July 2011, for the alleged diversion of funds of the Philippine Charity Sweepstake­s Office (PCSO).

Last July, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales filed plunder charges against Arroyo and seven other officials for the alleged misuse of P366 million in PCSO funds from 2008 to 2010.

Last Monday, Morales affirmed the joint review resolution which found probable cause to indict Arroyo and her coaccused, dismissing their motions for reconsider­ation. She said the case should proceed to trial.

Arroyo said the allegation­s contained in the charge sheet were insufficie­nt to support a probable cause finding that she indeed committed the crime of plunder and must be put on trial.

According to Arroyo, the disburseme­nt vouchers attached to the PCSO complaint confirmed she had no participat­ion or involvemen­t in any of the acts complained of.

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