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Akbayan sues Abalos over NBN deal, asks Ombudsman to inhibit


Partylist Akbayan filed on Tuesday charges against resigned Commission on Elections (Comelec) Benjamin Abalos before the Ombudsman over his alleged involvement in the controversial $329.48 million national broadband network (NBN) project. GMA’s Flash Report said Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros charged Abalos for violating the Anti-graft and Corrupt Practices Law, Revised Penal Code, and the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards of Public Officials and Employees. The opposition lawmaker said the filing of charges against Abalos was delayed as the Ombudsman failed to immediately issue Abalos’s statement of assets and liabilities, as requested by the group. The group was supposed to file the case on Monday. The group also formally asked Ombudsman Merciditas Gutierrez to inhibit from the case. Earlier, Hontiveros cast doubts on the impartiality of Gutierrez on complaints filed against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s allies. She said the Ombudsman is seen to be close to Mrs Arroyo, whose husband had been implicated in the NBN controversy. Hontiveros also noted that Gutierrez dismissed an earlier case against Abalos and other Comelec commissioners on the Mega-Pacific deal despite a Supreme Court ruling on the accountability of Abalos and other Comelec officials on the anomalous project. To recall, Hontiveros is one of the four lawmakers that endorsed the impeachment complaint against Abalos which was filed last month. The complaint was later deemed moot and academic by Abalos’s resignation on October 1.

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