‘Jose Velarde’ maintains innocence in plunder case

Because the Sandiganbayan Special Division had already ruled that the Jose Velarde account was owned by former President Joseph Estrada, businessman Jaime Dichaves — who Estrada said was the real Jose Velarde — asked the anti-graft court to junk the plunder case against him. In a 14-page reply filed with the Sandiganbayan last Aug. 15, Dichaves, through his counsel Pacifico Agabin, said Estrada’s conviction had cleared him of any criminal liability. “…[A]s the Honorable Court found in its decision in this case dated September 12, 2007, Accused Dichaves was not the owner of the Velarde account and therefore there is no basis for any finding on(sic) probable cause against him," a portion of the reply said. Dichaves was accused of delivering Estrada’s profit commission amounting to P189.7 million from the purchase by the Government Service Insurance System and the Social Security System of Belle Corporation shares worth P1.847 billion. The commission was reportedly deposited in the “Jose Velarde" account at the Equitable-PCI Bank. Accusations of corruption in late 2000 had led to massive street protests that cut short Estrada’s term in 2001, less than three years after he was elected president. Weeks after his conviction in 2007, he was pardoned by then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. In his reply, Dichaves challenged the basis for his inclusion in the plunder case, accusing the Office of the Ombudsman of not according him a chance to refute the allegations. He said no proper preliminary investigation had been done on his case because he left the country months before the filing of any complaint implicating him. The Ombudsman had argued that Dichaves left the country to escape prosecution and is now using such absence as an excuse to avoid facing trial for plunder. Agabin, however, pointed out that his client was not included among the accused when the plunder information was filed on April 4, 2001. He said even when the Ombudsman filed an Amended Information on April 19, 2001, only Eleuterio Tan was added as a co-defendant of Estrada. “…[I]t was only on September 20, 2001 that the Prosecution filed with the Honorable Court a Motion to further amend the Amended Information in this case to include accused Jaime Dichaves. And it was only on October 30, 2001 that the accused Dichaves was included in the specific Criminal Case No. 26558 for Plunder," Agabin said. The defense lawyer said prosecutors are attempting to deceive the court in alleging that there is no longer a need for a preliminary investigation to determine Dichaves’ participation in the crime of plunder. “This position of the Prosecution is inaccurate and deceptive because while it is true that there was a preliminary investigation in this case, there was none involving the accused Dichaves," he said. Dichaves, in his reply, also asked for the recall of an arrest warrant issued against him in 2001. - KBK, GMA News