$30-M shakedown: Vitangcol charged anew with graft

MANILA, Philippines - The Office of the Ombudsman has filed two more graft charges against former Metro Rail Transit (MRT-3) general manager Al Vitangcol III over his role in an alleged $30-million extortion attempt on Czech firm Inekon in 2012.

The cases were raffled off yesterday to the anti-graft court’s Sixth Division, which will determine if there is probable cause to issue a warrant for Vitangcol’s arrest and proceed with the trial.

Wilson de Vera, an incorporator of the Philippine Trans Rail Management and Services Corp. (PH Trams), was also named respondent for allegedly conspiring with Vitangcol in extorting money from Inekon in exchange for a P3.7-billion supply and maintenance contract for MRT-3.

Vitangcol is facing a separate trial for graft before the Sandiganbayan Third Division over the allegedly anomalous grant of a multimillion-dollar contract of $1.15 million a month to PH Trams for the maintenance of the EDSA rail service from 2012 to 2013.

De Vera’s PH Trams bagged the deal without public bidding as required under the procurement law.

The latest graft cases filed against Vitangcol and De Vera stemmed from the extortion complaint filed by former Czech Ambassador to Manila Josef Rychtar and officials of the Inekon Group who exposed the alleged shakedown in 2013.

Ombudsman probers said they found sufficient evidence to charge Vitangcol and De Vera for violation of Republic Act 3019, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

According to government prosecutors, the first count was for attempting to extort $30 million from Inekon, which supplied light rail vehicles (LRVs).

The second count was for insisting that the Czech company enter into a joint venture with a group of people for the MRT-3 maintenance project, with a 60-40 percent sharing scheme.  

The Office of the Ombudsman said that payment in advance by Inekon in the amount of $30 million, later reduced to $2.5 million, and entering into a joint venture with a group proposed by Vitangcol were imposed as pre-conditions for the Czech firm to be awarded the contracts for the supply of additional LRVs and maintenance of the MRT-3 in connection with the train system’s P3.7-billion expansion project in 2012.

After reviewing the evidence including the statements of Rychtar and Inekon representative Joseph Husek and the conflicting statements of Vitangcol and De Vera, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales ruled that the “failed attempt to extort from Inekon as a condition to secure the contract for the supply of LRVs was made upon the behest of Vitangcol.”

The ombudsman found Vitangcol and De Vera to have conspired in an attempt to seek favor from Inekon in exchange for the contract.