AFP HEARING: SENATE SUMMONS LIGOT'S WIFE
MANILA, FEBRUARY 23, 2011 (STAR) By Christina Mendez - The Senate Blue Ribbon committee has subpoenaed the wife of former military comptroller Lt. Gen. Jacinto Ligot to compel her to attend tomorrow's hearing and shed light on her and her husband's bank transactions and real estate acquisitions.
"If Mrs. Ligot will not attend the next hearing, we will be forced to issue an arrest order to force her to attend the hearings," committee chairman Sen. Teofisto Guingona III said.
The hearing is on the plea bargain deal between the Ombudsman's prosecutors and former military comptroller Carlos Garcia, who is facing plunder charges.
Erlinda Ligot had begged off from last week's hearing, citing hypertension. She also claimed she was not privy to the plea bargain deal.
Gen. Ligot faced intense grilling from senators over his unexplained wealth, which he appeared to have accumulated while he was comptroller for four years.
The hearing on the plea bargain deal revealed massive misuse of military funds by some generals, including Angelo Reyes who later committed suicide. Whistleblower and former military budget officer George Rabusa had told the committee of a "tradition" in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) of rewarding its chiefs with huge sums of money.
Meanwhile, Sen. Franklin Drilon revealed yesterday that he has requested Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares to look into the status of a tax evasion case against Ligot, in connection with the P135 million left in his accounts out of over P740 million in dollar and peso deposits in various banks.
"I have requested Kim Henares and she said they are now gathering the documents. But it would appear that even the P135 million which is the subject of the forfeiture case is already the subject of the tax fraud case in the Department of Justice," Drilon said.
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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