MANILA, 7 April 2005 — A retired army general and four members of his family were charged in court yesterday with plunder, a crime punishable by death, for allegedly amassing wealth illegally.
Charged before the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court were Maj. Gen. (ret.) Carlos Garcia, his wife Clarita and sons Ian Carl, Juan Paolo and Timothy Mark, whom the Office of the Ombudsman accused of taking kickbacks worth up to 303.2 million pesos ($5.55 million).
No bail was recommended for all the accused.
In filing the case, Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo alleged that Garcia took advantage of his post as comptroller of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) by taking kickbacks from suppliers of military equipment.
Garcia “accumulated, amassed, and acquired ill-gotten wealth by himself and in connivance with the members of his family,” said the charge sheet.
It said the general used his sons as “couriers” to stash away some of his alleged loot funds to the United States.
News reports had earlier disclosed that the Ombudsman got wind of Garcia’s illegal activities when US Customs officials at the San Francisco International Airport seized $100,000 that two of Garcia’s sons were trying to smuggle into the United States in December 2003.
Mrs. Garcia later wrote US authorities to say that the seized funds comprised “gratitude money” given her husband by contractors.
Garcia is being held in the compound of the military's intelligence service ISAFP.
Marcelo said the confiscated amount alone was more than the 2003 net worth of 3.2 million pesos ($58,608) that the general declared in a tax filing last year.
“Beyond this amount, therefore, his funds, properties and assets can only be ill-gotten,” Marcelo said.
“There is more than sufficient evidence to sustain the finding that to unjustly enrich himself Garcia took advantage of his position as an officer of the (armed forces) and later as comptroller, and received commissions, gifts, shares, percentage, kickbacks.”
He alleged that the funds were salted away in US bank accounts, a unit of the Trump condominium in New York, invested in real estate and placed in bank accounts in the Philippines under his children’s or his wife’s name.
Garcia is being tried separately in a military tribunal for conduct unbecoming. He faces a jail term and forfeiture of his pension if found guilty.
The court martial resumes on April 22, when it would be Garcia’s turn to present his evidence to refute the charges, military prosecutors said yesterday.
The Philippines in recent months has stepped up its campaign against graft in the military. As part of this campaign, the position of comptroller’s office, which Garcia once held, was abolished.
Garcia is also facing a forfeiture case before the Sandiganbayan.
He is being held in the compound of the Intelligence Service of the AFP in Camp Aguinaldo as he undergoes court-martial for violations of Articles of War.
According to Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio, all the elements of plunder as listed in Republic Act No. 7080 are present in the case against the Garcias.
The plunder law punishes public officers who have amassed ill-gotten wealth of at least P50 million through misappropriation, conversion, misuse or malversation of public funds or raids on the public treasury.
The law also penalizes public officers who have directly or indirectly received commissions, kickbacks, etc. from any person or entity in connection with a government contract or project or by reason of their office or position.
To explain why the amount being sought by the government had risen from P285 million to P303 million, Villa-Ignacio said more of the Garcias’ ill-gotten wealth were discovered during the investigation.
He said it had also been shown that by the year 2003, Garcia only had a net worth of more than P3.2 million that could be lawfully sustained by his income. “Beyond this amount, therefore, his funds, properties and assets could only be ill-gotten,” the prosecutor said. (Additional input from agencies & INS)
