Sandiganbayan denies bail plea of ex-PNP chief Avelino Razon
Retired PNP Chief Avelino Razon. Inquirer file photo
MANILA, Philippines—The Sandiganbayan has denied the bail plea of retired Philippine National Police Retired Gen. Avelino Razon Jr. on the malversation cases he is facing over alleged ghost repairs of police vehicles in the amount of P385.5 million.
Razon, the first PNP official to face graft, was accused of conspiracy in the awarding of the project to a private contractor for the maintenance of 28 V-150 light armored vehicles.
The court denied on Friday the bail petitions of Razon and 14 others finding strong evidence of guilt.
“After painstakingly going over the evidence presented by the prosecution, the Court is convinced that it was able to establish strong evidence of guilt on the part of the accused,” the resolution reads.
Besides Razon, the following accused were also denied bail: P/Dir. Geary Barias, P/Dir. Eliseo Dela Paz, P/SSupt. Emmanuel Ojeda, P/SSupt. Reuel Labrado, P/Supt. Josefina Dumanew, P/CInsp. Annalee Forro, NUP Alex Barrameda, NUP Nancy Basallo, NUP Patricia Enaje, NUP Maria Teresa Narcise, Tyrone Ong, Oscar Madamba, Evangeline Bais, and Pamela Pensotes.
The court said the prosecution was able to prove strong evidence of guilt against Razon and other respondents who were accused of proceeding with the procurement for the anomalous transaction.
According to the complaint filed by the Ombudsman, the contracts awarded to six firms in 2007 were riddled with violations of Commission on Audit regulations because the cost of repairs exceeded 30 percent of the acquisition cost.
The procurement process was also said to be anomalous due to lack of bidding documents, bidders, preprocurement conference and post-qualification process, and also due to ineligibility of the private suppliers to enter into the contract.
It also noted that there were ghost deliveries of engines and transmissions and that there were no records to show that the parts and engines of the vehicles were actually replaced.
The COA also found the payment for replacements of parts to be excessive.
“Despite these irregularities which would have prevented the questioned transactions from taking place, the accused still proceeded with the procurement. They facilitated the issuance of the purchase/work orders, disbursement vouchers, checks and other reports, wherein they specified that the materials were received in good order and condition; that the objects of purchase were okay as to quality and specifications; and that the supporting documents therefore were complete and proper,” the resolution read.
“As the reports… found otherwise, a presumption now exists that the accused resorted to a false narration of facts which was necessary for them to commit malversation,” it added.
Meanwhile, the bail petitions of P/DDG Reynaldo Varilla and P/Dir. Charlemagne Alejandrino were granted. They were allowed provisional liberty after posting P200,000 due to the prosecution’s failure to prove the evidence against them is strong.
Razon is the former senior aide to ex-President Fidel V. Ramos.
Aside from Razon, five other top police officers are being held at the PNP Custodial Center at Camp Crame after the court ordered their arrest in August 2013.
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