Former Sulu governor Abdusakur Tan and his son, Maimbung Mayor Samier Tan, are facing charges at the Sandiganbayan owing to their alleged failure to file their Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth.
Based on the charge sheets signed by Assistant Special Prosecutor III Jorge Espinal, Abdusakur Tan was charged with five counts of violation of Section 8 of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees for allegedly “willfully, unlawfully and criminally fail[ed] to file under oath and/or submit to the Office of the Ombudsman” his SALNs from 2007 to 2011.
Samier Tan was charged with two counts of violating the Code of Conduct for his alleged inability to submit his SALNs for the years 2010 and 2011.
The law provides that the failure to file a SALN is punishable by an imprisonment of five years at the maximum or P5,000 at the maximum, as well as possible disqualification from public office depending on the court’s discretion.
The anti-graft court asked the Tans to post bail amounting to P50,000 and P20,000, respectively.
The elder Tan’s cases were assigned at the anti-graft court’s Sixth Division, while the younger Tan’s cases went to the Third Division.
The Ombudsman will present complainant Temogen Tulawie as one of its prosecution’s witnesses. Tulawie was Abdusakur Tan’s political rival and who in 2016 lost his gubernatorial candidacy against his other son, Abdusakur Tan II.
The Ombudsman in September 2016 also ordered the suspension of the Tan sons for the administrative aspect of the SALN case.