MALACAÑANG has formally charged and placed under 90-day preventive suspension Special Prosecutor Wendell Sulit for graft and betrayal of public trust because of her plea-bargain deal with former military comptroller Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia.
In a two-page formal charge signed by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. and issued on Tuesday, Sulit was placed under preventive suspension pending the investigation of charges against her.
Malacañang said in its order that Sulit was placed under a 90-day preventive suspension “considering the seriousness of the charges, the existence of prima facie case against respondent that she is probably guilty thereof which warrants her removal from the service and respondent’s continuance in the office may pose threat to the safety and integrity of the record and other evidence.”
Malacañang claimed that Sulit violated existing rules and jurisprudence when she “knowingly and willfully” entered into a plea-bargain deal with Garcia in connection with his plunder case pending before the Sandiganbayan.
It alleged that Sulit and her deputies “impaired deliberately the case for the prosecution by ignoring and abandoning evidence favorable to the interest of the government and presenting evidence adverse to its cause.”
Malacañang alleged that Sulit failed to discharge her mandated duty of prosecuting erring public officials with utmost responsibility, integrity and professional competence.
Sulit was also accused of causing undue injury to the government and of giving unwarranted benefits to Garcia through “manifest partiality, evident bad faith and gross inexcusable negligence.”
She was given 10 days to submit her answer to the formal charge before the Office of the Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs.
The House Committee on Justice had earlier recommended that Sulit be dismissed from service for culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust.
Acting Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro on Wednesday suspended Sulit immediately after he received a copy of the order issued by Malacañang in connection with the case filed before the Office of the President regarding the Garcia plea-bargain deal.
“Effective today, the 90-day preventive suspension was imposed by the Office of the President against Special Prosecutor Wendell Sulit,” lawyer Mary Rawnsle Lopez, Casimiro’s spokesman, said in a statement.
She said Sulit was also directed to “cease and desist from performing official and administrative functions at the Office of the Special Prosecutor.”
Section 8 of the Ombudsman Act or Republic Act 6770 states that “a deputy or the special prosecutor, may be removed from office by the President for any of the grounds provided for the removal of the Ombudsman, and after due process.”
