Enrile speaks on plunder raps: 'I am innocent; I will cooperate with Ombudsman'

MANILA, Philippines – Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile on Monday rejected the charges of plunder filed against him at the Ombudsman, saying he was "innocent" of all accusations lobbed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

"Let me make clear that I am innocent of the charges filed against me," Enrile said in a statement issued by Atty. Enrique V. De La Cruz. Enrile, along with Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla and 35 other individuals - including former congressmen, government executives, congressional staff, and private citizens linked to businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles - have been accused of conspiring to siphon billions of pesos in congressional pork barrel funds to their own accounts.

Enrile and his fellow senators were charged with plunder. The rest of the 38 people charged by the NBI were tagged with accusations of graft and malversation.

Enrile alone allegedly received kickbacks from Napoles in the amount of about P172.8 million.

"I regret that the Department of Justice has filed this case after an incomplete, hasty, and partial investigation," Enrile said. He said the investigation was been accompanied by repeated and deliberate "leaks" and suggested that he had already been prejudged by the government.

"In the words of Sec. de Lima herself, 'I have to be very candid. We are under extreme pressure to file already a case or cases ASAP...'" Enrile said in his statement.

Enrile said that under the law, "every Filipino is entitled to a thorough, complete and impartial investigation so that whatever his rank, whoever is guilty is punished and the innocent are exonerated."

"That is not the kind of investigation that has been done," he said.

Enrile nonetheless expressed confidence that "the Ombudsman will conduct a thorough, complete, and impartial investigation under due process of law so that justice be done to all. I am therefore ready to fully and honestly cooperate with the investigation to discover not just the truth but the whole truth."

SOURCE: www.interaksyon.com