Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — The Sandiganbayan dismissed Tuesday a graft case filed against former senator Lito Lapid over his alleged purchase of overpriced fertilizers.
In a resolution dated September 30, 2016, the anti-graft court’s First Division granted Lapid’s motion to have his case dropped due to delays in the Ombudsman’s preliminary investigation.
In any case of delay, the court said the Ombudsman is duty bound to prove the delay was reasonable.
However, it said: “The prosecution clearly failed to hurdle this burden since no plausible explanation was given to justify the delay in the Ombudsman’s preliminary investigation.”
In his motion to dismiss, Lapid said it took the Ombudsman five years or from 2006 to 2011 to finish its field investigation alone.
The Ombudsman spent another three years for the preliminary investigation before it issued a resolution for Lapid’s indictment in 2014, then another year before it filed the case before the Sandiganbayan.
State prosecutors argued the delay is reasonable considering the voluminous records and participants involved in the case.
The court rejected this argument.
“This reason proffered by the prosecution is unacceptable as recent jurisprudence has called attention to the mandate of the Ombudsman as the protector of the people, in such that it is expected to act promptly on all complaints lodged before it,” the court said.
Lapid was charged with graft at the anti-graft court in November last year over the alleged anomalous purchase of overpriced liquid fertilizers worth about ₱4.7 million.
Lapid allegedly approved the purchase without holding public bidding when he was governor of Pampanga in 2004.
The court also dismissed the graft charges filed against three of Lapid’s co-accused due to the same reason.
