Former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. entered a “not guilty” plea before the Sandiganbayan's Fourth Division Tuesday over his alleged involvement in the $329.48-million ZTE broadband scandal. Radio dzBB reported that Abalos denied allegations that he offered a P200-million bribe to former socio-economic planning chief Romulo Neri in exchange for the latter's approval of the ZTE contract. Abalos said that as a lawyer, he knew how to weigh evidence and he was confident that based on the eevidence, he will win the case. “I have a very, very confident attitude. I know that ultimately I'll be cleared,” Abalos later told reporters. The ZTE scandal, also known as the “broadband controversy,” involved allegations of corruption in the awarding of a $329-million construction contract to the Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE, for the government's National Broadband Network (NBN) project. The contract with ZTE was signed on April 20, 2007 in Hainan, China, during the term of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. When the alleged irregularities were exposed, Arroyo cancelled the NBN project in October 2007. On July 14, 2008, the Supreme Court dismissed all three petitions questioning the constitutionality of the NBN deal, saying the petitions became moot when the project was cancelled. Arroyo's husband, Mike, was implicated in the case but the Ombudsman, who was said to be his classmate in law school and a friend, cleared him, saying that there was not enough proof to charge him in the graft court Meanwhile, the court chided the key witnesses in the scandal – engineer Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. and Jose de Venecia III – for supposedly treating the courtroom like a “moviehouse” by going in and out of the court at will. Radio dzBB's Allan Gatus said Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Gregory Ong reminded the two witnesses about their conduct in the courtroom.
