Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales said that her firm will not initiate its own investigation of Sen. Leila de Lima and her involvement in the illegal drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison.
“It’s not going to happen,” said Morales.
Morales cited a lack of firm leads establishing De Lima’s connection to the proliferation of illegal drugs at New Bilibid Prison (NBP) when the senator was justice secretary in the administration of President Benigno Aquino III.
“Everything is just an allegation so far,” she said. “There is no lead that will prompt us to initiate an investigation.”
Morales also noted that the Department of Justice (DOJ) had already started its probe of the two criminal complaints filed separately by the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption on Tuesday and former National Bureau of Investigation deputy directors Ruel Lasala and Reynaldo Esmeralda on Thursday.
De Lima and other DOJ officials who served with her were accused of drug trafficking.
The DOJ has convened an investigative panel composed of five prosecutors to look into the two complaints.
“The DOJ should be given the opportunity to conduct a fact-finding investigation,” she said. “When the case comes to us, and if I believe the fact-finding investigation is exhaustive enough to merit our preliminary investigation if there is a crime committed, then we’ll go through it.”
Normally, gathering evidence is done before the complaint is forwarded for preliminary investigation. The respondent is given the chance to counter the complaint before the state prosecutor determines whether there is probable cause for indictment, subject to the approval of the Ombudsman.
One such case that can be tackled by the Office of the Ombudsman is the complaint filed by Chief Insp. Jovie Espenido, police chief of Albuera, Leyte province. In his complaint last week, Espenido claimed that De Lima received payoffs from suspected Eastern Visayas drug lord Kerwin Espinosa, who was arrested on Monday.
Morales, however, said the complaint is yet to be forwarded by her Visayas office. “It has not reached us,” she said.
Source: Inquirer
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