The Supreme Court has ordered the Sandiganbayan to proceed and eliminate the graft and estafa instances filed in opposition to a former Department of Finance official and a textile firm proprietor over alleged involvement in a tax credit score scheme.
In a 26-page resolution, the Court’s Second Division dismissed two petitions filed individually by Filstar Textile Industrial Corporation (Filstar) proprietor Grace Chingkoe and former Finance official Uldarico Andutan Jr. in search of to assail the resolutions issued by the Sandiganbayan.
The Sandiganbayan’s decision denied Chingkoe’s movement to quash the case on the bottom that her constitutional proper to due course of and speedy disposition was violated.
“A court may dismiss a case once it has established that the accused’s right to speedy disposition of cases has been violated. However, the accused must invoke this constitutional right in a timely manner. Otherwise, the court may consider the right waived,” the choice mentioned.
In March 2009, the Office of the Ombudsman filed a number of informations for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and estafa by falsification of public paperwork in opposition to Chingkoe, Andutan, and different respondents earlier than the Sandiganbayan.
This stemmed from the supposed unwarranted good thing about choice given by Andutan to Filstar and two gasoline firms by recommending the approval of the analysis studies of the tax credit score purposes of Filstar and the switch of the tax credit from Filstar to the gasoline corporations.
In August 2016, Chingkoe filed her movement to quash, arguing that the Ombudsman violated her constitutional rights to due course of and speedy disposition of instances. Her movement was later adopted by Andutan and different respondents.
“Here, petitioners filed their motion to quash after the lapse of almost six years, after their arraignment, and only after public respondent rendered its resolutions,” the Court mentioned.
“It can be reasonably assumed that the filing of the motion is a mere afterthought, and not because they experienced ‘vexatious, capricious, and oppressive delays’ during the preliminary investigation before the Office of the Ombudsman,” it added.
The resolution was promulgated on October 12, 2022 however launched solely on January 25, 2023. It was penned by Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen. — BM, GMA Integrated News
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
