CA OKs syndicated estafa case vs Globe Asiatique president

The Court of Appeals has given the Department of Justice (DOJ) the go-signal to file a syndicated estafa case against real estate developer Delfin Lee.   The decision came as the appellate court's 17th Division granted the DOJ's petition for certiorari seeking the lifting of a preliminary injunction order issued by Judge Rolando Mislang of the Pasig City Regional Trial Court Branch 167.   Mislang's injunction order had prevented the DOJ from lodging the estafa case against Lee.   The CA said Judge Mislang exercised "grave abuse of discretion" when he issued the injunction order and prevented the DOJ from pushing through with the preliminary investigation on other related cases.   "In view of the foregoing, the instant petition (of the DOJ) is hereby granted. The assailed order... for injunction is annulled and set aside for having been issued with grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or in excess of jurisdiction," the court said.   "The writ of preliminary injunction is hereby lifted for lack of basis both in fact and in law," it added.   Last August, the DOJ recommended the filing of a syndicated estafa case against Lee, his son, and three associates in connection with a P6.5-billion loan granted by the Home Development Mutual Fund or the Pag-IBIG Fund to "ghost borrowers" for the purchase of Lee’s Globe Asiatique Realty Holdings Corp. housing projects in Pampanga province.   The syndicated estafa case recommended by the DOJ was an upgrade from the original simple estafa case recommended by the DOJ panel of prosecutors.   In assailing the Mislang's injunction order, the DOJ said Lee "miserably failed to prove that the requisites for the issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction are present in this case."   The DOJ also said that the "elements of a prejudicial question are clearly not present in this [estafa] case."   The DOJ added that in issuing the preliminary injunction, Mislang had already prejudged the main case. — Mark D. Merueñas/KBK, GMA News