THE PNP-CIDG has filed perjury charges against ZTE star witness Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. for claiming he was abducted upon his return from Hong Kong last February 5.

The complaint was filed before the Office of the City Prosecutor of ManiIa.

Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera said the PNP-CIDG maintains its position that Lozada was not taken against his will.

Lozada, in a Senate testimony, said he was forcibly taken by elements of the PNP and airport officials as he got off the plane and was forced to sign an affidavit that his family sought police protection.

Devanadera said the OSG was initially tasked to handle the case as part of the government’s defense in the petition for amparo filed by Lozada’s family before the Court of Appeals.

However, the CIDG decided to file a separate case.

Justice Undersecretary Ernesto Pineda, head of a panel of prosecutors tasked to investigate the involvement of government officials in the anomalous NBN deal, said the result of the Manila prosecutor’s office’s probe will be incorporated in his panel’s recommendation. – Evangeline de Vera