PROSECUTORS FIGHT ERAP PAL PLEA TO STOP ARREST
State prosecutors have opposed a plea by former President Joseph Estrada’s alleged dummy, Jaime Dichaves, to require them to first explain the basis for Dichaves’ indictment before the Sandiganbayan orders his arrest for plunder, a nonbailable charge.
In a 16-page comment, the Ombudsman’s Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) said the allegations in the plunder charge sheet were already clear enough and it should not be required to show that Dichaves had acquired ill-gotten wealth.
The prosecution defended the sufficiency of the allegations, which charged Dichaves with being “in conspiracy” with Estrada to pocket public funds through the “Jose Velarde” account at the now-defunct Equitable PCI Bank.
The OSP rejected Dichaves’ plea to require it to specify which piece of evidence shows that Dichaves acquired ill-gotten wealth and which “overt criminal acts” he allegedly committed that constituted plunder.
Dichaves claimed the information accused only Estrada of amassing ill-gotten wealth and failed to detail Dichaves’ role in the alleged plunder.
But the prosecution said Section 12 of Republic Act No. 7659, or the plunder law, provided that plunder was committed “in connivance with business associates or other persons” which describes Dichaves’ alleged role as Estrada’s co-conspirator.
The OSP said the plunder law also stated that it was “enough that those who participated, including accused Dichaves, in the commission of the crime of plunder shall also be punished for the same crime.”
In his April 3 motion, Dichaves said the prosecution should first identify which of the case records was used as basis to recommend the arrest of Dichaves.