(Eagle News) — Former Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon on Thursday asked the Department of Justice to junk the criminal charges filed against him in connection with the P6.4-billion drug smuggling mess.
Faeldon, through his lawyer Jose Diño Jr., said it was the Office of the Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan, after all, that had jurisdiction over raps that are filed against ranking public officials.
Faeldon was at the helm of the Bureau of Customs when he supposedly committed the act that resulted in him being charged for conspiring to import illegal drugs and coddling drug traffickers under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act, graft, obstruction of justice, among others, in connection with the illegal drug shipment that slipped through the BoC via express lanes in May.
“This DOJ investigating panel, with all due respect, has no primary jurisdiction to conduct the preliminary investigation insofar as movant Mr. Faeldon, as the offenses and felonies alleged by the (Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency) were committed by Faeldon, (a salary grade) 30, and that those offenses or felonies were also allegedly committed in relation to Mr. Faeldon’s office,” Faeldon’s motion read.
The DOJ panel gave the PDEA five days to comment on Faeldon’s motion.
Also charged by PDEA in connection with the incident were other BoC officials, employees, National Bureau of Investigation agents, and importers.
The charges were apart from the complaint filed by the NBI against those believed behind the shipment, including Richard Tan, Kenneth Dong, and BoC fixer Mark Taguba.