Senate panel recommends plunder rap against Binay

The Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee yesterday formally sponsored its partial committee report on the alleged anomalies involving Vice President Jejomar Binay when he was mayor of the Makati City.
Senator Aquilino Pimentel, the chairman of the sub-committee, sponsored the 46-page partial report, containing the findings and recommendation of the panel, in plenary.
The panel recommended the filing of plunder charges against the vice president, his son, ousted Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr, the members of the Bids and Awards Committee that conducted the bidding for the Makati City Building 2, the executives of the contractor that won the bidding and the owner of the architectural and design firm tapped for the project.
The committee also found that the project was overpriced by P1.1bn to P1.3bn.
“In the opinion of the sub-committee, all the elements of the crime of plunder have been clearly alleged and substantiated though the unequivocal and straightforward assertions, under oath, of the witnesses who have appeared before us during the hearings as well as from the documents already in the possession of the sub-committee,” the report said.
The sub-committee also recommended among others, the transmission of the copy of the report to the Office of the President, Commission on Audit, Office of the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice (DOJ).