Orders immediate suspension of Neri
by Andreo Calonzo
GMANews.TV
The Office of the Ombudsman on Wednesday affirmed the involvement of former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) director-general Romulo Neri and former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos in the botched multi-million NBN-ZTE deal.
In a 16-page joint order, the Ombudsman upheld its April 21, 2009 resolution recommending the filing of graft charges against Neri and Abalos in connection with the $329-million national broadband network deal (NBN) the Arroyo government entered with China’s Zhong Xing Telecommunications Equipment (ZTE) Corp. in April 2007.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo terminated the contract, which was supposed to improve the communication capabilities of government offices, in September 2007 after news of bribery surrounding the deal came out.
Bare denials