Vitangcol posts bail for $30-M extort try

MANILA, Philippines - Former Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3 general manager Al Vitangcol posted P60,000 bail yesterday after the Sandiganbayan’s Sixth Division ordered his arrest for graft cases in connection with his alleged extortion attempt on Czech company Inekon Group in 2012.

Vitangcol was accompanied by his lawyer Artemio Caña Sr. when he posted the bail at 4 p.m.

The arrest order issued against Vitangcol and his co-accused Wilson de Vera, one of the directors of maintenance provider PH Trams, was for two counts of violation of Section 3 (b) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

De Vera had already posted bail on Tuesday.

“We know that these cases are fabricated. They are baseless. As you can see, the (Office of the) Ombudsman is really selective in its prosecution,” Vitangcol said.

In his case, Vitangcol said he was not just being prosecuted but persecuted.

Section 3 (b) of RA 3019 prohibits public officials from “directly or indirectly requesting or receiving any gift, present, share, percentage or benefit, for himself or for any other person, in connection with any contract or transaction between the government and any other party, wherein the public officer in his official capacity has to intervene under the law.”

The case stemmed from Vitangcol and De Vera’s alleged attempt to extort from Inekon some $30 million, which was later reduced to $2.5 million, in exchange for the contract for the supply of train coaches as part of the P3.8-billion MRT expansion project under the previous administration.

The respondents also allegedly insisted that officials of Inekon enter into a joint venture agreement with De Vera’s group under a 60-40 percentage sharing (60 percent in favor of Inekon), in exchange for the contract for MRT 3 maintenance.

The contract for the supply of coaches was eventually awarded to CNR Dalian Locomotive and Rolling Stock Co. of China while the maintenance contract was awarded to PH Trams after officials of Inekon supposedly refused to pay the amount allegedly being extorted by Vitangcol and De Vera.

The extortion try, which allegedly happened on July 9 to 10, 2012 was exposed by then Czech ambassador Josef Rychtar. The extortion attempt supposedly took place in Rychtar’s house in Forbes Park in Makati City.

“You know that ambassador is a liar, I’ve long been saying that everything that he says is a lie,” Vitangcol said, referring to Rychtar.

“If they (Office of Ombudsman) believe what the ambassador is saying, why did they concentrate on his statements about me and not the other officials from the DOTC (Department of Transportation and Communications)?” he said.

Vitangcol alleged that the ombudsman was getting back at him over his recent “exposé” in his recent column in a daily broadsheet about the alleged car plate deal anomaly supposedly involving previous DOTC officials, including former secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya.

Vitangcol resigned from the MRT in May 2014 amid allegations of corruption.

Vitangcol, De Vera and four other officials of PH Trams are also facing graft charges in another division of the Sandiganbayan over the alleged anomalous awarding of the maintenance deal to PH Trams and its joint venture Comm Builders and Technology Philippines Corp. (CB&T).

The ombudsman, in filing the case last year, said the awarding of the maintenance contract was violative of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and the Government Procurement Reform Act.