Vitangcol indicted for graft anew

Al Vitangcol. LYN RILLON/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

FORMER Metro Rail Transit (MRT) general manager Al Vitangcol has found himself in deeper trouble.

The Office of the Ombudsman on Monday approved the indictment in the Sandiganbayan for graft of Vitangcol and businessman Wilson de Vera for allegedly demanding $30 million from a Czech company in exchange for  contracts in the P3.7-billion expansion program of the elevated train system.

Vitangcol, who quit in May 2014 amid the extortion controversy, already faces a  trial for graft in the Sandiganbayan in connection with the alleged fraudulent award of a

$1.5-million maintenance contract to a company partly owned by his uncle-in-law.

In a statement, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales said Vitangcol has been perpetually barred from working in the government after he was earlier found guilty of two counts each of grave misconduct, serious dishonesty and unlawful solicitation.

Since Vitangcol had already left the government service, the Ombudsman ordered him to pay a fine equivalent to his salary of one year as penalty for the separate administrative offenses.

The antigraft body also forfeited Vitangcol’s retirement benefits and voided his civil service eligibility.

Morales said the statements of former Czech Ambassador to the Philippines Josef Rychtar and Inekon Group officials were enough to pursue the filing of two counts of violation of Republic Act No. 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, against Vitangcol and De Vera.

Rychtar had accused the pair of demanding $30 million from the Inekon Group in exchange for the  contract to supply  48 new train coaches for the  MRT in 2012.

The Czech diplomat said the extortion attempt took place in July 2012 with De Vera negotiating in behalf of the former MRT general manager.

“After considering the evidence, including… Vitangcol’s and De Vera’s conflicting statements on the other hand, (the Ombudsman) found that the ‘totality of circumstances…’ convinces this office that the failed attempt to extort from Inekon as a condition for (it) to secure the contract…  was made upon the behest of Vitangcol,” the Ombudsman said.

It said Vitangcol and De Vera conspired in an “attempt to seek favor from Inekon representatives” to enter into an agreement for the contract “under a 60-40 sharing scheme with a group of persons, one of whom turned out to be De Vera.”

De Vera was an incorporator of Philippine Trams Rail Management and Services Corp., the same company that bagged the alleged anomalous $1.5-million maintenance contract.

After initially demanding $30 million, the Ombudsman said Vitangcol’s group asked for $2.5 million from Inekon as a precondition set by “Vitangcol in conspiracy with De Vera.”