Sandiganbayan acquits Manila prosecutor

Sandiganbayan / Wikipedia Photo

MANILA – A Manila assistant city prosecutor was acquitted by the Sandiganbayan from a graft case file against for allegedly lying about her properties in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Networth (SALN).

On a 23-page decision, the anti-graft court absolved Manila Assistant City Prosecutor Evelyn Brul Cruz of all three counts of perjury under Article 183 of the Revised Penal Code.

The three cases were filed by the Office of the Ombudsman for Cruz’s alleged wrongful declarations in her SALNs in 1999, 2000, and 2002.

The acquittal was warranted “for failure of the prosecution to prove beyond reasonable doubt the guilt of accused Evelyn Brul-Cruz.”

The court said that while Cruz admitted discrepancies in her SALN declaration, she asserted that she did it in good faith “because her children and step children have a share in the said properties, and that during those years the estate of her late husband Carlos G. Cruz has yet to be settled.”

The decision penned by Associate Justice Oscar Herrera Jr. and concurred in by Associate Justice Napoleon Inotura and Second Division Chairperson Teresita Diaz Baldos, further noted that “after a careful and meticulous scrutiny of the evidence abduced, the Court rules that accused Cruz is entitled to an acquittal.”