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DOJ to toss graft rap vs. Sereno to Ombudsman


The Department of Justice will soon transmit the graft complaint against ousted chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno to the Office of the Ombudsman, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said on Tuesday.

"The Office of the Ombudsman has primary jurisdiction over anti-graft and corruption cases, especially involving high[-ranking] government officials," Guevarra told GMA News Online in a text message.

Lawyer Lorenzo Gadon, Sereno's accuser in aborted impeachment proceedings at the House of Representatives, sued the former Chief Justice before the DOJ for her alleged failure to file mandatory asset declarations for 17 years, when she taught law at the University of the Philippines. 

One of Sereno's spokespersons had called Gadon's complaint a "stunt" and a "laughable attempt" to remove the former chief justice from office.

Before the graft and the impeachment raps were resolved, Sereno was ousted by a historic majority vote of her colleagues in the Supreme Court upholding a quo warranto petition based on the alleged non-filing of SALNs.

The search for her successor is ongoing.

Gadon did not err by filing the complaint at the DOJ, Guevarra said, but maintained that the Office of the Ombudsman had primary jurisdiction over cases of such a nature.

If the anti-graft body finds probable cause in the charges, the case will be filed before the Sandiganbayan, he said.

Asked for a transmission date, the Justice chief "as soon as possible," explaining that he has to discuss the matter with the assigned prosecutors. The case was filed last January, during the incumbency of now-resigned Justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II. —NB, GMA News

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