(Eagle News) — Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno is facing another set of charges before the Ombudsman.
Lawyer Larry Gadon, who filed the impeachment complaint against her, said in a radio interview that he would file the graft and corruption charges against Sereno for her alleged hiring of IT consultants without the proper public bidding and without approval from the en banc.
He said the salaries paid to the consultants–who received P250,000 each monthly— amounted to over P10 million.
He said he filed the charges based on a 50-page report released by the en banc two weeks ago.
The report said the contract inked from 2014 to 2015 and that became the basis for the hiring and payment of the consultants was illegal, Gadon said.
He said the report was released following a directive by the Supreme Court en banc for the senior court attorney to conduct an investigation into the contract after it first came to light when Gadon filed the impeachment complaint against Sereno and asked the High Court for certified true copies of documents.
“Parang nakita ng en banc, anong kontrata ito. Wala tayong alam na ganito,” he said.
“Itong panibagong reklamo na ififile ko sa Ombudsman,criminal case ito sapagkat mayroon silang violation na ginawa na matatawag na graft and corruption..Ang malaking problema dito, nabayaran na ng P10 million ang mga tao,” he added.
Gadon is also accusing Sereno of committing 27 offenses that he said were tantamount to a betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, the commission of other high crimes and graft and corruption.
These are contained in the impeachment complaint which is being heard by the House justice committee.
