Sandiganbayan suspends Ronnie Ricketts

OMB chairman Ronnie Ricketts INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Optical Media Board (OMB) chair and actor Ronnie Ricketts and three other OMB personnel were ordered suspended without pay for 90 days and seven months after they were arraigned on graft charges.

READ: Ronnie Ricketts suspended as OMB chair pending graft trial

The Sandiganbayan imposed the 90-day preventive suspension on Ricketts and his three coaccused for allegedly returning confiscated pirated digital video discs (DVDs) and video compact discs (VCD) to their manufacturer in 2010.

The others accused with Ricketts were OMB enforcement and inspection division head Manuel Mangubat, investigation agent Joseph Arnaldo and computer operator Glenn Perez.

In its order released on Friday, the Sandiganbayan’s Third Division invoked the court’s authority to suspend an incumbent public officer who is charged with graft.

“Under this rule, it becomes mandatory for the court to immediately issue the suspension order upon proper determination of the validity of the information,” the antigraft court said.

The Ombudsman charged Ricketts and the three others with graft last June.

It found that an OMB team seized 127 boxes and two sacks of pirated DVDs and VCDs from the Sky High Marketing Corp. in May 2010. The seized items were brought to the OMB office but were pulled out that same evening without any gate pass.

The Ombudsman charged Ricketts of ordering the pull-out using a truck owned by Sky High Marketing.

Ricketts and his coaccused pleaded not guilty during their arraignment on July 23, 2015. TVJ

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