Sandiganbayan OKs Russian trip of Sherwin, Weslie Gatchalian with Duterte

The Sandiganbayan has allowed Senator Sherwin Gatchalian and his brother, Valenzuela Rep. Weslie Gatchalian, to travel to Russia with President Rodrigo Duterte.

In separate resolutions, the anti-graft court's Fourth Division granted both their motions to travel to Russia from May 22 to 27.

In their motions, the Gatchalians said they are both part of the official delegation of the President to Russia.

Sherwin added in his motion that he will join Duterte in meetings with the Russian officials "aimed at fostering stronger political, cultural, and economic ties between the two countries."

Aside from this, the court has also granted Weslie's motion to travel to Toronto, Canada, from June 4 to 18 to spend quality time with his family after Congress adjourns session.

The Gatchalians, along with some of their relatives and Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay, were charged over the Local Water Utilities Administration's (LWUA) allegedly anomalous acquisition of a thrift bank in 2009.

The charges stemmed from LWUA’s acquisition of Express Savings Bank Inc., a local thrift bank based in Laguna jointly owned by the Forum Pacific Inc. (FPI) and the Gatchalians' Wellex Group Inc. in a deal worth P80 million.

Ombudsman investigation showed that the LWUA Board led by Pichay passed a resolution on March 24, 2009 approving the acquisition of ESBI without the requisite regulatory approvals from the Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Department of Finance and the Office of the President.

In October last year, the Sandiganbayan cleared Sherwin of charges related to LWUA's acquisition of ESBI.

However, he still needed to ask permission from the court to travel abroad as there is still a pending motion seeking to reverse the court's resolution to dismiss his cases. —KBK, GMA News