Garcia sees holes in Marcoleta’s claims: Bank transfers done by PR firm

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairperson George Garcia (L) and Sagip party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta (R). | PHOTOS: Official Facebook pages of COMELEC and Rodante Marcoleta

MANILA, Philippines — Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairperson George Garcia has spotted several potential holes in Sagip party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta’s claims that he owns offshore bank accounts, noting that he replicated the bank transfers and sent them to “Batman.”

Garcia in a message to reporters on Thursday night showed screenshots of his team sending money to a certain Metrobank account, which went through even if they named the recipient as the famous comic book character.

Aside from that, Garcia also noted that Marcoleta’s documents — showing that a volunteer transferred funds to his alleged offshore accounts — were done by a public relations (PR) firm based in the United States (US).

“So ang ginawa po nila, tunay na account sa New York Bank na kakabukas lang sa pangalan ng iba tao, tapos nagpadala via wire transfer yang Jaleo Consulting / PR firm sa US na hired nila at ang may-ari ay Latino, ng US$100 sa same account number tapos pinalitan ang tunay na name ng pangalan ko,” Garcia said.

(So what they did was use a true, newly-opened account in New York Bank which was under the name of a different person, then a US-based Jaleo Consulting / PR which they hired firm sent money worth US$100 through wire transfer, same account number, but they changed the true name using mine.)

“Tingnan niyo po ito, naghulog kami sa isang tunay na account number pero ang name na nilagay ay Batman, successful pa din ang transfer,” he noted.

(Look at this, we deposited money to a legitimate bank account but we placed the name Batman, the transfer was still successful.)

According to Garcia, the PR firm that he mentioned was the one responsible for making the bank transfers, and not a supporter as Marcoleta initially claimed.

“Ito po hinire na consulting at PR na gumawa ng pekeng transaction. Hindi po isang supporter tulad ng sinabi kanina sa press conference […] Andyan po sa upper left ang nagpadala sa tunay na account pero name ko ang ni-reflect at hindi ‘yong tunay na may ari ng account,” he noted.

(The PR firm was hired to do consulting and do a fake transaction.  It’s not a supporter as what was mentioned in the press conference earlier […] It was in the upper left of the document, the true account number of the receiver was reflected,  but my name was reflected and that’s not the true name of the account.)

A quick look at the Chase of Business transaction report obtained by Marcoleta — copies of which were sent to the media — showed activity to an account owned by a certain Jaleo Consulting, LLC.

The said account, Marcoleta said, was used by volunteers in New York, USA to make bank transfers worth US$100 to two offshore bank accounts supposedly owned by Garcia.

READ: Marcoleta tags Comelec chief Garcia in Caymans offshore bank controversy 

He also alleged that receipts from Chase for Business indicated that the offshore bank accounts were under the name “George Erwin Mojica Garcia.”

The two accounts were under Scotiabank and Trust Cayman LTD, and The Bank of New York Mellon.

But Garcia reiterated his previous claims that the accounts are fake, and that bank transfers would proceed as long as the account number is correct, never mind if a fake name is placed.

READ: Garcia: Bank accounts presented by Marcoleta ‘fake’, uses my name 

Additionally, Garcia also said that the bank accounts presented by Marcoleta on Thursday were not part of the offshore bank accounts mentioned last July 9, when he first divulged that at least P1 billion worth of funds were transferred from different banks, including those based in South Korea, to 49 accounts allegedly linked to a Comelec official.

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

“Yan pong account number ng New York Bank na may last digit… 8562 ay wala sa mga binanggit sa unang press conference at wala sa list na pina-receive ng isang dating Congressman. Bagong account po ito na kakabukas lang.  ‘Yon po kasing mga naunang 49 offshore na bank accounts at six local accounts ay fake lahat,” Garcia claimed.

(These account numbers of the New York Bank with a last digit… 8562 was not part of the accounts mentioned in a previous press conference and it was not part of the list sent by a former Congressman.  This is a newly opened account.  Because the initial 49 offshore na bank accounts and six local accounts are all fake.)