The Supreme Court reversed the dismissal of a graft case against a lawmaker.
In a decision promulgated August 19, 2019 and released to the media Thursday, the court ordered the Office of the Ombudsman to reinvestigate and resolve the multimillion-peso fertilizer scam involving Senator Lito Lapid.
Lapid was accused of buying overpriced fertilizer when he was Pampanga governor in 2004.
A complaint was filed at the Office of the Ombudsman in 2011, which included Lapid and Ma. Victoria M. Aquino-Abubakar and Leolita Aquino, officials of the fertilizer seller Malayan Pacific Trading Corporation. D.A. Vasquez Macro-Micro Fertilizer Resources proprietor Dexter Elxander Vasquez was also included in the complaint.
JUST IN | The Supreme Court reverses the Sandiganbayan's dismissal of the graft charges against Sen. Lito Lapid on the fertilizer fund scam. (via News5 / @dqdevera) pic.twitter.com/8Z2cZwLXOs— ONE News PH (@onenewsph) 5 de desembre de 2019
The case was dismissed at the Sandiganbayan due to delays in the Ombudsman's preliminary investigation. Lapid said the Ombudsman took five years from 2006 to 2011 to finish its field investigation.
In its August decision, the Supreme Court said it could not be proven if the length of time it took for the Ombudsman to investigate Lapid's case merits a case dismissal.
"Delay becomes inordinate only in the presence of arbitrary, vexatious and oppresive actions or inactions that are discernible from the proceedings. No such delay attended the Ombudsman's proceedings that would warrant the dismissal of the criminal case against herein respondents," read the decision penned by Associate Justice Jose Reyes, Jr.
The Supreme Court directed the Sandiganbayan to resolve the case "with reasonable dispatch."
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This article first appeared on CNN Philippines.
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