The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
The Sandiganbayan has allowed the case against Pharmally Pharmaceuticals to be refilled, following the withdrawal by the Office of the Ombudsman of its original complaint, with the principle of double jeopardy not being applicable to the case, according to the anti-graft court.
The Sandiganbayan rejected claims by Pharmally Pharmaceuticals of political persecution and lack of due process while giving credence to the petition of the Ombudsman to withdraw the graft cases against Pharmally.
The 1st Division of the Sandiganbayan said Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla is dulyauthorized to review cases and overturn or repeal actions of former Ombudsman Samuel Martires.
Days after his appointment as Ombudsman, Remulla ordered the recall of criminal cases against Pharmally filed in courts where the accused have not yet been arraigned.
The cases involve alleged irregularities in procuring medical supplies, COVID-19 test kits and personal protective equipment (PPE), worth billions of pesos, by the Department of Health (DoH) and the Department of Budget and Management’s Procurement Service (DBM-PS) during the pandemic period under the Duterte administration.
Three complaints originally filed with the Manila Regional Trial Court were later transferred to a Malolos regional court for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. The Malolos court, citing lack of jurisdiction, referred the cases to the Sandiganbayan, which affirmed it was the proper court to hear them.
The first case involved the June 2020 purchase of 41,400 units of BGI Real-Time Fluorescent RT-PCR kits worth ₱2.8 billion. Named DBM-PS defendants were then undersecretary and executive director Lloyd Christopher Lao, procurement group director Warren Rex Liong and procurement officers Augusto Ylagan, Webster Laureñana and Paul Jasper de Guzman.
Issue in the second case was the ₱600-million purchase of 8,000 PCR kits; while the third case involved the April 2020 procurement of 2,000 A Star Fortitude RT-PCR kits worth ₱688 million.
Additional DBM-PS officials implicated included Christine Marie Suntay and Jasonmer Uayan.
Other defendants listed across all three cases were Pharmally president Twinkle Dargani, treasurer and secretary Mohit Dargani, directors Linconn Ong and Justine Garado, board member Huang Tzu Yen, employee Krizzle Grace Mago and financial manager Lin Weixiong.
Some of the defendants opposed the Ombudsman’s withdrawal of the cases with Ong arguing that the prosecution’s motion lacked legal merit and was driven by “malice and politics.”
Ong warned that a reinvestigation would cause unwarranted delays.
Meanwhile, Liong said Remulla’s motion to withdraw should be denied because probable cause had already been established. Lin Weixiong also criticized the withdrawal as based solely on the Ombudsman’s preference.
Mohit Dargani said he did not oppose the withdrawal but asked the anti-graft court to dismiss the cases with prejudice, as he argued that refiling would amount to political persecution and violate his right to due process and the speedy resolution of cases.
However, the Sandiganbayan cited that fear of delays “is merely speculative at this point since no reinvestigation has yet been conducted and no result has been rendered.”
It asserted that as a general rule, courts do not interfere with the Ombudsman’s determination of probable cause unless there is clear evidence of grave abuse of discretion.
“We do not interfere with the Ombudsman’s exercise of its investigative and prosecutorial powers, and respect the initiative and independence inherent in its office,” the court stated.