3 ex-cops, trader get 10 years for graft

MANILA, Philippines - The Sandiganbayan on Monday convicted three retired police officials and a supply contractor for the allegedly anomalous purchases of P10 million worth of clothing and equipment in 1992. Sentenced to six years and one month to ten years imprisonment were retired Superintendents Van D. Luspo and Arturo Montano, retired Chief Inspector Salvador Duran Sr., and private defendant Margarita Tugaoen. The three were also ordered by the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division to reimburse the government the value of alleged ghost purchases of “combat, clothing and individual equipment (CCIE).” The anti-graft court however acquitted Retired Director Guillermo Domondon, former director for comptrollership of the Philippine National Police (PNP), for lack of evidence. The case against the late PNP Director General Cesar Nazareno, meanwhile, was dismissed because of his death prior to the completion of trial. “(W)e feel that accused Nazareno and Domondon cannot in fairness be held liable under the indictment and that evident bad faith can only be attributed to accused Luspo, Duran, Montano and Tugaoen, the latter also being accorded unwarranted partiality or benefit,” the court said. The Sandiganbayan held that the prosecution sufficiently demonstrated the fraud committed by the convicted defendants through the presentation of credible witnesses. Case records showed that Luspo, Montano and Duran worked for the release of 100 checks for P100,000 each in favor of Di-Ben Trading, MT Enterprises, J-Mos Enterprises and Triple 888 Enterprises, who were the supposed supplier of CCIE. Graft investigators however uncovered evidence that the four firms were all owned by accused Tugaoen. “There is no other conclusion that can be drawn except that there was splitting of the payments made amounting to ten million pesos into one hundred smaller portions. These series of acts spelled nothing but conspiracy which showed their common design in achieving their one common goal to the damage and prejudice of the government,” the court said. - GMANews.TV