MANILA — An anti-graft court has found businessman Cedric Lee and former Mariveles, Bataan mayor Angel Peliglorio guilty of malversation of public funds in relation to a public market construction project in 2005.

Lee and Peliglorio were sentenced by the Sandiganbayan 3rd Division to 12 to 18 years of imprisonment and a penalty of absolute perpetual disqualification from public office, on top of a fine of P23.47 million, which is equal to the funds malversed.

“After a careful scrutiny of the records and thorough evaluation of the evidence adduced by the parties, this court is convinced, beyond a reasonable doubt, that accused Peliglorio, Jr. and accused Lee committed malversation, punished under Article 217 of the Revised Penal Code,” the court said in the decision penned by Associate Justice Bernelito Fernandez, with the concurrence of Presiding Justice and Chairperson Amparo Cabotaje-Tan ang Associate Justice Ronald Moreno.

The Office of the Ombudsman filed graft and malversation charges against Lee and Peliglorio in 2015 over the construction of the Mariveles Public Market.

For the graft case filed by the Ombudsman, Peliglorio authorized the release of P14.056 million to Lee’s Izumo Contractors Inc. as advance payment, while for the malversation case, public funds in the amount of P23.47 million were authorized to be released.

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Lee and Peliglorio however were acquitted in their graft cases as the prosecution failed to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

But it was clear to the court that Peliglorio permitted the release of P23.47 million from the Landbank of the Philippines, a day after Lee requested for the mobilization of funds of the same amount.

Lee maintained during trial that the amount he initially received was for the services he already rendered such as the detailed architectural design of the market.

But the court said nothing in the documents submitted by Lee could prove that his company was entitled to a lump-sum payment.

“Apart from his self-serving statements, there was no breakdown of the designs and studies he enumerated nor were there any contracts that would prove that he outsourced and paid the other services,” the court said.

In 2014, Lee got involved in the mauling of actor Vhong Navarro.

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