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Estrada to sue UN for corruption tag


Former president Joseph Estrada vowed Wednesday to file charges before the International Court against the United Nations (UN) for tagging him as the 10th most corrupt leader in the world. Estrada, who extended his stay in Hong Kong, told radio station DZBB that the statement of the UN’s anti-corruption conference ranking him as the 10th most corrupt leader in the world “is baseless." “We will file charges against the UN for that baseless statement. They should lay down their basis for tagging me as the 10th most corrupt leader in the world" Estrada said. The UN anti-corruption conference, which is currently being held in Indonesia, ranked him as the 10th most corrupt leader in the world for allegedly having raked in an estimated $78 million to $80 million during his presidency from 1998 until he was ousted on January 20, 2001. Topping the list of the 10 most corrupt leaders of the world include, Mohammed Suharto of Indonesia for amassing $15 billion to $35 billion landing on first; former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, with $5 billion to $10 billion; Nobuto Sese Seko of Zaire, $5 billion; Sammy Hanatia of Nigeria, $2 billion to $5 billion; Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia Yugoslavia, $1 billion; John Claude Covalier of Tahiti, $300 million to $800 million; Alberto Fujimori of Peru, $600 million; Pablo Lazarengco of Ukraine, $144 million to $200 million and Arnoldo Aleman of Nicaragua with $100 million. Media blamed Estrada blamed the tri-media for demonizing him during his presidency and until he was jailed for the plunder charges, where he was found guilty by the Sandiganbayan special division in September last year. He was pardoned by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on October last year and was released from detention in his Tanay rest house in Rizal since then. The former Philippine president maintained that he did not steal even a single centavo from the government coffers. Estrada said he was found guilty of plunder based on the allegations of former Ilocos Sur Governor Chavit Singson that he received jueteng money, which Estrada said was not government money. “The tri-media fed disinformation against me to the public to pin me down. They demonized me during the time that I was forced to step down from Malacanang. They throw all the allegations against me, but they were not able to prove it even after six years and six months that I was jailed and during the trial of my case in the Sandiganbayan, which is designed to convict me," Estrada said. Estrada said if jueteng money were considered government funds, many would have been found guilty of the charges and jailed. “The jueteng money amounting to P200 million was donated to the Erap Muslim Youth Foundation. I am not even a signatory to the cheques for that and the one who benefited from that are our poor Muslim countrymen. The P189 million in the Belle Shares was the commission given to Jaime Dichaves. They thoroughly review all contracts made under my administration but they have not proven anything and they have not proven that I have been involved in any anomalous transactions during my presidency that is why it has no basis at all. The right basis is the Sandiganbayan decision which showed that I am not involved in any anomalies in government," Estrada said. - GMANews.TV

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