By Benjamin Pulta
MANILA – The Sandiganbayan has granted the issuance of a writ of preliminary attachment against 16 properties of fugitive Elizaldy “Zaldy “Co, allowing the government to possibly confiscate the former lawmaker’s assets in connection with the anomalous flood control projects.
In its 13-page resolution dated March 4 and released on Monday, the anti-graft court’s Fifth Division granted the prosecution’s request for a writ against Co’s properties sufficient to cover the aggregate amount of PHP215.331 million.
Among the properties covered by the writ are real estate in Pasig City, Makati City, Quezon City and Lipa City in Batangas.
The biggest of the properties has an area of 1,212 square meters located in Makati City and is registered to the spouses Elizaldy and Mylene Co.
Also in the list is a 776-square meter property in Pasig and a 300-square meter property in Quezon City.
The particular case accused Co of acting with officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways – Region 4-B (Mimaropa) and members of the board of directors of Sunwest Corp. to defraud the government in the construction of a road dike along Mag-Asawang Tubig River in Barangay Tagumpay, Naujan, Oriental Mindoro.
The prosecution claimed the embezzlement was committed partly by misdeclaring the actual length of steel sheet piles (SSPs) used in the project with SSPs embedded at only 3 meters instead of the 12 meters required. (PNA)
