MANILA, July 16 (Reuters) - The Philippines' former economic planning secretary pleaded not guilty to graft charges before an anti-corruption court on Friday, and said he would not cooperate with a commission investigating the previous administration.
Romulo Neri, who also served as head of the state workers' pension fund under President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, whose term ended on June 30, was facing trial over alleged kickbacks in a $329 million broadband network deal with China's ZTE Corp in 2007.
"Of course, he is not guilty," Neri's lawyer Paul Lentejas told reporters after the court hearing. "We will fight our case. It's the prosecution that must prove its case. Let's see what the prosecution's evidence will be."
Lentejas said it was unfair that his client was on trial when he was responsible for exposing the multi-million peso bribe.
At a congressional investigation in 2007, Neri said he was offered a bribe of 200 million pesos ($4.3 million) by elections commission chairman Benjamin Abalos to approve the deal for ZTE Corp to build a broadband network for state agencies.
Neri declined to reveal details of his conversation with Arroyo after he reported the bribe offer, and the opposition at the time claimed he was protecting the president and her husband from allegations they were involved in the scheme.
In May, the month before Arroyo's term ended, the Ombudsman cleared Arroyo and her husband but approved the filing of corruption cases against Neri and Abalos.
Abalos will be arraigned next Tuesday.
The new government under President Benigno Aquino III has set up a "truth commission" to investigate allegations of corruption, election fraud and political killings during Arroyo's presidency.
"We will not cooperate with the truth commission, with all due respect to the commission. At this point, anything he will say may be self-incriminating," Lentejas said.
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