Shirley Escalante and staff
Updated October 04, 2012 18:44:34
A court in the Philippines has issued an arrest warrant for former president Gloria Arroyo on plunder charges.
The warrant was issued late on Wednesday, but has not yet been served.
The AFP news agency says the move means its likely Arroyo will return to jail after she posted bail in July following about seven months of confinement.
Shirley Escalante, Radio Australia's reporter in Manila, says Arroyo is accused of misusing about $US9 million in public funds between 2007 and 2010.
She said Arroyo's lawyers have expressed surprise at the warrant, which comes just three months after another court granted Arroyo bail on charges of attempting to rig the 2007 senate election.
Arroyo is still a member of the House of Representatives, and she plans to seek re-election in next May's mid-term election.
However, she is rarely seen in public and has been admitted to hospital several times recently for a spine condition.
Once arrested, she is unlikely to escape detention as the charge under the Plunder Law is a non-bailable offence and carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Sixty-five-year-old Arroyo was president from 2001 to 2010.
Topics: world-politics, fraud-and-corporate-crime, philippines, asia
First posted October 04, 2012 14:56:26
Updated October 04, 2012 18:44:34
A court in the Philippines has issued an arrest warrant for former president Gloria Arroyo on plunder charges.
The warrant was issued late on Wednesday, but has not yet been served.
The AFP news agency says the move means its likely Arroyo will return to jail after she posted bail in July following about seven months of confinement.
Shirley Escalante, Radio Australia's reporter in Manila, says Arroyo is accused of misusing about $US9 million in public funds between 2007 and 2010.
She said Arroyo's lawyers have expressed surprise at the warrant, which comes just three months after another court granted Arroyo bail on charges of attempting to rig the 2007 senate election.
Arroyo is still a member of the House of Representatives, and she plans to seek re-election in next May's mid-term election.
However, she is rarely seen in public and has been admitted to hospital several times recently for a spine condition.
Once arrested, she is unlikely to escape detention as the charge under the Plunder Law is a non-bailable offence and carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Sixty-five-year-old Arroyo was president from 2001 to 2010.
Topics: world-politics, fraud-and-corporate-crime, philippines, asia
First posted October 04, 2012 14:56:26