Baniqued narrates extortion vs. Espinos
THE long arm of the law will always catch the criminals.
This was stressed by lawyer Geraldine Baniqued, provincial Legal officer, after the arrest of Lawyer Isagani Nicolas, labor arbiter and cousin Leonardo Nicolas, graft investigator from the Office of the Ombudsman for extortion.
They were arrested last week for their attempt to extort money from both Rep. Amado Espino Jr. and son, Bugallon Mayor Jumel Espino.
The two suspects were arrested in the entrapment operation of the joint operatives of NBI Manila and Office of the Ombudsman after accepting the money that they demanded from Espino in exchange for the alleged dismissal of 9 new cases filed with the Ombudsman.
Baniqued said no new cases as claimed were filed against the Espinos.
She narrated the sequence of events to The PUNCH.
“An Atty. Leonardo Nicolas, who claimed to be a senior lawyer at the Ombudsman called me to say he wanted to help Mayor Jumel who has a pending case before the Ombudsman. I verified the information with Atty. Isagani Nicolas and he (Leonardo) is a cousin,” Baniqued started.
She said she decided to meet Atty. Leonardo Nicolas who she said “wanted to help the mayor because he is a kababayan as long as he cooperates.” But upon verification with the mayor, he said he’s not aware of any case filed against him and he refused to transact money matters about it, so he asked Mr. Art Soriano to face Nicolas, and only to find out that there is no case filed against the mayor.
“It was the Ombudsman’s office that arranged for the entrapment after persistent calls from Nicolas who didn’t stop calling practically every day, from May to July. When he was arrested, Atty. Isagani Nicolas was with him so it’s a question to me what his participation was in this,” Baniqued said
Baniqued said, from the 1st meeting, Leo Nicolas offered to help fix the alleged 9 cases for P150,000 to P250,000 per case, that ended with P5 million and eventually reduced to P3 million.
The two suspects were nabbed in the entrapment operation last July 21 in the transaction set in Capitol Resort in Lingayen.
Caught in the possession of the suspects is the P1 million in marked cash and ‘boodle’ money.
Baniqued said, a case of falsification of public document is also filed against Leo Nicolas for the false signatures affixed in the dismissal order. (Nora Dominguez)
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