Ombudsman Merceditas N. Gutierrez said the criminal charges filed against those implicated in the P728-million fertilizer fund scam will be elevated to plunder.

Ombudsman Merceditas N. Gutierrez said the criminal charges filed against former and present government officials implicated in the P728-million fertilizer fund scam will be elevated from malversation of public funds to plunder which carries stiff penalties if evidence warrants.

She said, however, that no evidence has yet been found to support a plunder case.

The government's chief graft buster made the comments the other day in answer to criticisms hurled by her detractors that she treated respondents with kid gloves because they were allies and associates of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who was also linked to the controversy.

Assistant Ombudsman Jose de Jesus explained that a government official cannot be automatically charged with plunder even if he steals P50 million, the threshold for such offense.

He said there are various elements before one could be charged with plunder like the establishment of accumulation of ill-gotten wealth.

“Our investigators have not yet established such thing, what the fact-find body found was misappropriations so we filed malversation cases,” he stressed.

Gutierrez also denied charges that she was slow in prosecuting and filing criminal cases against the respondents, saying that “I only inherited the case and when I was appointed Ombudsman in 2006 I immediately formed “Task Force Abono” to look into the anomaly.

She admitted that the progress of the investigation has been moving slowly because “it is very complicated involving a total of 768 government officials and private individuals from all over the country.

Nevertheless she instructed the task force to fast-track the investigation so that cases can immediately be filed before the Sandiganbayan.

She, however, cautioned them to observe due process and the rule of law.