“I personally filed the case against the lawyers because of deception,” said Director Benjamin Magalong, head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).
The two — William Rivera and Gilbert Requiso — were accused of muddling the status of the arrest warrant on Lee, a suspect in a multi-billion housing scam.
“They made it appear that [the] arrest warrant was already lifted when in fact it’s not,” said Magalong.
“I have consulted third party lawyers on this and they said that there are grounds to file a case against them,” he added.
The warrant was issued by a Pampanga court in connection with the alleged double sale of house and lots and other units under Globe Asiatique Inc., which Lee owns.
Lee was arrested last March after more than a year of hiding, but his lawyers questioned the arrest, saying the Court of Appeals had ordered the lifting of the warrant in November last year.
The Pampanga court, however, had yet to act on the CA order pending the resolution of another motion filed with the Supreme Court.
Despite this, Rivera and Requiso allegedly used the CA order to ask Philippine National Police chief Director General Alan Purisima to remove Lee from the police wanted list. At the time, the police were unaware of another motion pending with the high court. —KBK, GMA News
