Comelec chief to file lawsuit vs accusers

Comelec chair George Erwin Garcia

MANILA, Philippines — Commission on Elections (Comelec) chair George Garcia on Monday said he is eyeing filing criminal charges against those behind the alleged banking accounts linked to him where he supposedly received bribes from a South Korean firm.

Garcia made the pronouncement as he once again insisted that the banking accounts—first said to be offshore, and now with seven additional local bank accounts—are fake.

READ: Comelec chief denies receiving P120-M bribe from South Korean firm

According to Garcia, he aims to file falsification cases against those behind the “fake accounts.”

“Kung sakali sakaling mapapatunayan kong falsification ito, na mali mali at hindi totoo ang accounts, ako mismo ang magfifile ng kasong kriminal (Once I prove that this is falsification, that the accounts are false and fake, I will file a criminal case myself),” Garcia told reporters.

READ: P1-B moved from foreign banks to poll exec’s offshore accounts – Marcoleta

This developed after Garcia said he received a “white paper” from a certain lawmaker containing all the banking accounts he allegedly owned.

But Garcia pointed out that the document listing the bank accounts had all the same font and did not even include the logos of the alleged banks.

“So ibig sabihin ’yan ay (so this means those are) fake, spurious and falsified documents,” he said.

He then said that he had already requested the National Bureau of Investigation, Anti-Money Laundering Council to formally investigate the accusations against him.

It was Sagip Party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta who first revealed that at least P1 billion worth of funds were transferred from South Korean-based banks to 49 offshore accounts supposedly linked to an unnamed Comelec official.

Garcia then immediately admitted that he was the one Marcoleta was referring to, quickly denying the existence of such accounts.

He also called out the lawmaker for publicizing the accusation without verifying it.