FIVE months after the broadband project was scrapped, the Department of Justice will investigate the alleged corruption that led to the scrapping of the $329 million supply contract with the Chinese firm ZTE Corp.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez vowed no whitewash in the investigation ordered by President Arroyo to determine whether anti-graft and procurement laws were violated when the executive agreement on the NBN project was signed.

"This will be a transparent investigation. They shouldn’t prejudge me. They have not even seen what we can do (about the investigation)," he said.

Gonzalez said the DOJ’s investigation will likely start in two weeks as soon as the department receives the presidential directive or after the ongoing Senate inquiry has submitted a committee report.

He said that among those who will be summoned are Philippine Forestry Corp. president Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr.; former elections chair Benjamin Abalos; Amsterdam Holdings Inc. official Jose de Venecia III, and acting Higher Education chairman Romulo Neri, in his capacity as former planning secretary.

The investigation was ordered by Malacañang after Lozada surfaced and pointed to Abalos and First Gentleman Mike Arroyo as those who worked for the approval of the broadband project.

Gonzalez said that since Lozada’s admitted that he was unsure if it was indeed Mike Arroyo whom Abalos supposedly called up, DOJ might not include the First Gentleman in the investigation.

He also said the probe will also look into Lozada’s allegations that he was abducted by members of the PNP, but stopped short of offering Lozada to come under the witness protection program. – Evangeline de Vera