PCGG wants Disini cousin to testify in P51-B wealth case

The Presidential Commission on Good Government is taking drastic steps against lawyer Jesus Disini to force him to testify in a P51-billion ill-gotten wealth lawsuit against his cousin Herminio Disini and the Marcos family. The PCGG announced last Tuesday that it has revoked a provision of its February 16, 1989 on the immunity agreement signed with Jesus Disini that limits the latter's testimony to litigations abroad. In a nine-page pleading filed with the Sandiganbayan First Division last July 31, government lawyers led by Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera said Disini has personal knowledge about documents that would prove material facts in the case like Marcos' ownership of two-thirds of Herdis Group, Inc. Herdis, a company founded by Herminio Disini, allegedly became a recipient of behest loans from government financial institutions and other favors under the Marcos administration. The conglomerate also allegedly received millions of dollars worth of commissions from the Westinghouse Electric Corporation, the American firm that cornered the $2.1 billion Bataan Nuclear Power Plant construction project which was later mothballed after hundreds of defects were detected. Jesus Disini was granted immunity from suit in exchange for his testimony in the Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations (RICO) cases against the Marcoses in the United States. In his motion dated July 10, Disini invoked the immunity agreement to stop the government from compelling him to testify against his cousin despite having executed two affidavits that former President Ferdinand Marcos owned two-thirds of Herdis and that Herdis conducted its business operations with substantial help from Marcos. Government lawyers said Disini would have to appear in court to affirm his depositions under oath, otherwise they will not be of much use to the government case. “(I)t is crucial and essential for the recovery efforts in this case against defendants Herminio Disini and spouses Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos that the full cooperation of lawyer Jesus Disini be obtained unhampered and free from any conditions," the PCGG-OSG said. The P51-billion lawsuit was filed by the PCGG in July 1987 against the estate of the late president, the former First Lady , Herminio Disini and former Development Bank of the Philippines president Rafael Sison who was dropped as a defendant last December in exchange for turning state witness. The anti-graft court has already declared the Marcos estate, Mrs. Marcos and Herminio Disini in default for failing to file their respective answers to the government complaint within the prescribed period. Mrs Marcos and Herminio Disini are now barred from presenting their evidence, although their lawyers and other representatives may observe during the government presentation of its case. Herminio Disini is also facing graft charges in connection with the BNPP deal for which he allegedly received $17 million commission from Westinghouse and another $1 million from Burns and Roe which was awarded the design contract for the power plant. - GMANews.TV