Pasay court convicts airport employee of graft
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
Tha Pasay City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 118 has convicted an airport employee found guilty of soliciting and accepting millions from a contractor working with the Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa).
Leilani Pagdanganan, a senior accountant of the Miaa, was found guilty of violating Section 3 (h) of Republic Act No. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, the Office of the Ombudsman disclosed in a statement on Wednesday.
RTC Presiding Judge Rowena Nieves Tan sentenced Pagdanganan to nine years and one day to 12 years of imprisonment, with perpetual disqualification from holding public office.
“Pagdanganan was found to have received P3,492,400 from Equine Power Trading Company (EPTC), a contractor with several projects with the Miaa,” the Ombudsman revealed.
The Ombudsman said that its prosecutors presented withdrawal slips signed by Pagdanganan herself showing that she received tranches of money from the contractor.
Prosecutors said Pagdanganan received P996,400 on December 28, 2006, and P400,000 on April 4, 2007, withdrawn from the savings account of EPTC maintained at the Parañaque Branch of Land Bank of the Philippines.
They also presented a voucher from EPTC dated January 22, 2007, for P2,096,000.00 signed by Pagdanganan as the recipient.
“The court finds the circumstantial evidence as forming an unbroken chain leading to one fair and reasonable conclusion that accused Pagdanganan, to the exclusion of all others, is guilty of soliciting and accepting moneys from EPTC, with whom the office, the Miaa, had existing projects to fund and which accused Pagdanganan, as a public employee, is prohibited by law from having any financial interest in,” the court decision stated.
In addition, the court said Pagdanganan “never refuted the fact that she received moneys from Equine… Neither did she present any evidence to show that she received the same for a lawful purpose.”
The law prohibits public officers from directly or indirectly having financial interests in any business, contract or transaction where he or she takes part in an official capacity. /cbb
