The Sandiganbayan has convicted Bacoor 4th assistant provincial prosecutor Carlos Catubao of Direct Bribery for mulcting money from a litigant with a pending case before his office. He was sentenced to imprisonment ranging from seven to eight years with the accessory penalty of special temporary disqualification and ordered to pay a fine of P9,000.00.
Private complainant Cornelio Ragasa narrated that in December 2008, Catubao requested P5,000.00 as “pang-inom” in exchange for the issuance of the resolution on the estafa case filed against complainant. In response, Ragasa’s counsel, sent P4,000.00 to Catubao via courier service.
In its 15-page Decision, the Sandiganbayan stated that “there was a clear intention on [Catubao’s] part to accept and take the money sent and consider it as his own.”
“It was established by the prosecution that the accused accepted the money in consideration of the execution of an act not amounting to a crime that is, to expedite the resolution of the estafa cases against [private complainant],” the court added. ###