The Sandiganbayan Seventh Division has ordered the temporary archiving of the graft case against fugitive former Ako Bicol Party-list Representative Zaldy Co, following his failure to surface for over six months.
In a resolution finalized on June 24 and made public on Thursday, the anti-graft court acknowledged that law enforcement could not serve the arrest warrant because the former legislator was nowhere to be found at his known addresses.
“In view thereof, and considering that the Court has yet to acquire jurisdiction over the person of accused Co, let this case be ARCHIVED and the record thereof be forwarded to the Judgment and Records Section,” the Sandiganbayan said.
The court made it clear that shelves the case only for the time being.
“Let this case be archived … without prejudice to the reinstatement or revival of the case and its withdrawal from the archives upon the such time as the Court acquires jurisdiction over his person,” the court added.
The directive came after National Bureau of Investigation Agent-on-Case Rehom Pimentel submitted a warrant return indicating that routine tracking operations came up empty. Furthermore, state prosecutors admitted during the hearing that they had no other potential addresses to offer to help locate Co.
The criminal charges against Co stem from his alleged involvement in an anomalous and poorly constructed ₱289.4 million flood control project located in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro.
The development follows a statement last April by Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla, who claimed Co was detained in the Czech Republic and could be deported to the Philippines within “one to three weeks.”
However, the Department of Justice later revealed that Philippine authorities sent to Prague discovered the former lawmaker was no longer in Czech custody.