(Eagle News) — Former Philippine National Police Chief Alan Purisima on Friday pled not guilty to perjury charges filed against him over his alleged failure to disclose various possessions in his Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth.
Purisima made the plea in the Sandiganbayan’s Second Division, where he was indicted for eight counts of perjury over his questioned SALNs for the years 2006 to 2009 and 2011 to 2014.
In the charge sheet, the Ombudsman had accused Purisima of not disclosing the property of his wife in his 2006 and 2007 SALN.
In 2008, the anti-graft body said a total of three properties owned by his wife were not disclosed in his SALN.
A year later, Purisima’s property and those three properties were not disclosed, the Ombudsman said.
Apart from the four properties, Purisima allegedly omitted his firearms HPRFL BMSTR 223 and pistol STI 40, in his 2011 SALN.
Two other firearms were added to the list of not disclosed items in Purisima’s SALN from 2012 to 2013, while four real properties were left undisclosed in the 2014 SALN, the Ombudsman said.
The perjury case was apart from the graft case Purisima faces in connection with the allegedly anomalous awarding of a courier service deal to Werfast Documentary Agency Inc. when he was PNP chief, and cases in connection with the 2015 Mamasapano incident.