At the same time, Associate Justice Ma. Cristina Cortez-Estrada, in a 24-page decision, acquitted former PSC chairman Cecilio Hechanova, who was charged as Campomanes’ co-accused, for failure of the prosecution to prove conspiracy.
"We have reviewed the entire evidence on record and could not find anything which would positively and conclusively show that accused Hechanova induced accused Campomanes not to liquidate the subject funds after a demand for the same was made by the Commission on Audit, which could have convinced us that indeed, conspiracy was present," Estrada said.
Estrada explained that in legal parlance, "conspiracy is attendant when two or more persons come to an agreement concerning the commission of a felony and decide to commit it.
"Conspiracy must be established by the same quantum of evidence as any other ingredient of the offense, i.e, by proof beyond reasonable doubt. Such evidence must show intentional participation in the transaction with a view to the furtherance of the common design or purpose," Estrada said.
On the other hand, in rendering the guilty verdict on Campomanes for violating Article 218 in relation to Article 222 of the Revised Penal Code, Estrada cited that COA chairman Pascasio Banaria, in a letter dated Jan. 19, 1994, informed Campomanes that a special audit on the financial assistance to FIDE revealed that the same did not reach the coffers of FIDE and the disbursements were not duly accounted for.
"A demand, according to Banaria, was being made upon Campomanes to immediately refund the amount or submit to the COA detailed accounting covering the liquidation of the subject amount. Up to the present time, Campomanes has not rendered such accounting. Clearly, therefore, Campomanes is guilty of violating Article 218 of the Revised Penal Code, requiring him to render accounts," Estrada said.
Court records showed that on Aug. 25, 1992, a total of P12,876,008 was disbursed and entrusted to the FIDE for the World Chess Olympiad in Manila, hosted by the Philippine government from June 6-25, 1992.
In his testimony, Campomanes said that he was president of the FIDE from 1982 to 1995.
During his tenure, Campomanes said that he conducted chess competitions in countries other than the Philippines such as the Chess Olympiads in 1986 in Dubai, 1984 and 1988 in Thessaloniki, Greece and 1990 in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia.
Campomanes said FIDE, through funds of its own or through the host country’s government, funded these chess Olympiads.
He said FIDE was never asked to liquidate any of the funds, which it had received from the organizing committee, and it was not the practice of the FIDE, with respect to Chess Olympiads hosted in the countries, to account for the funds received from the sponsoring Committee.
"It was the other way around, FIDE asked the host countries to submit a financial report on the entire event," Campomanes said.
Campomanes said that when he received the funding from the PSC for the 1992 Chess Olympiad, nothing was stated about an agreement for any liquidation.
He said he also thought that signing the 13 checks covering the disbursements for the Chess Olympiad was sufficient, adding that he never directly received any demand or notice in between the issuance of the checks to liquidate prior to the release of the other checks.
"The only time that I knew of the obligation on the part of the FIDE to liquidate was in 1994 or two years after the Olympiad," Campomanes said.
In her testimony, prosecution witness Rexy Mendoza Ramos, team leader of the COA auditors who audited the transactions of the PSC from March 1990 to June 1992, said the examination of the documents presented to them showed that the financial grants made to the FIDE "were tainted with irregularities."
"The irregularity was limited to the finding that there was no official receipt issued and there was no liquidation required by the auditing manual of the government," Ramos said.
Estrada said that Campomanes, as president of the FIDE, a private international organization, and thus a private entity, was the one liable to render accounts on the grant that he had received on behalf of FIDE from the PSC.
She cited that Ramos "herself testified that FIDE was supposed to render an account of the subject funds because it was the one which expended the same."