ICC to probe Duterte's wealth

Inquiry aims to establish his eligibility for legal aid

- RAYMUND ANTONIO

The International Criminal Court (ICC) will conduct an investigation into former president Rodrigo Duterte's assets and financial resources to determine if he is qualified to avail himself of the legal aid being offered by the international tribunal, ICC spokesman Fadi El Abdallah said.

In an interview with NewsWatch Plus PH on Tuesday, March 25, he explained that only ICC judges can declare if the former president cannot afford to cover his counsels' fees, so he can avail himself of the ICC's legal aid program.

"So, normally, there is a financial investigation about the assets and financial resources that a suspect has before deciding whether the cost of his or her defense should be taken over by the Court or not," he said.

Vice President Sara Duterte had earlier shared that their family is mulling the possibility of applying for the ICC's legal aid program to cover her father's legal fees, which could run up to millions of pesos. She is currently in The Hague, the Netherlands, to assist her father in forming his defense team for the crimes against humanity of murder charges he's facing before the ICC for his administration's bloody so-called war on drugs campaign.

El Abdallah said that the composition of the former president's defense team would be based on the "evolution of the case." "Well, there is always one lead counsel and then the rest is defense team. There is a minimum defense team of counsel and other individuals," he explained.

The camp of the former president has already hired British-Israeli lawyer Nicholas Kaufman and is still in the process of forming the rest of the elder Duterte's legal team.

The Vice President had earlier shared that there will be a Filipino lawyer in her father's defense team as there will be facets of the case that involve Philippine laws.