License plate contractor indicted

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Justice (DOJ) has approved the indictment of officials of the consortium that bagged the P3.8-billion contract of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) in the previous administration for the controversial new car plates.

In a resolution released recently, investigating prosecutors found probable cause in the charges of estafa through falsification of commercial documents, false testimony and perjury, and violation of Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act against executives of local firm Power Plates Development Concepts Inc. (PPDCI) and Dutch company J. Knieriem B.V. Goes (JKG).

The DOJ found merit in the complaint filed by the Anti-Trapo Movement (ATM) in August 2013, which alleged that the officials of the PPDCI-JKG consortium “have consciously, intentionally and purposely submitted to an official government exercise what they know is an insufficient document and passing the same as authentic and accurate.”

Preliminary investigation showed that respondents led by the consortium’s corporate secretary Ron Salo and managing director Christian Calalang submitted to the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) a document they said was the audited financial statement of JKG as a requirement for bidding for the Motor Vehicle License Plate Standardization Program (MVLPSP).

“However, upon careful examination of the said document, it turned out that it is not the audited financial statement of JKG. What the respondents submitted during the bidding were the 2011 annual accounts of respondent JKG issued by the Chamber of Commerce of The Hague, the Netherlands, the 2011 consolidated accounts of H3 BV (the parent company of JKG),” read the resolution by Assistant State Prosecutor Ricardo Estrabo.

The prosecutor cited as proof a letter from Calalang wherein he “admitted that they submitted the financial statement of H3 BV.”

“Thus, JKG and PPDCI submitted a falsified 2011 annual report and claimed it to be the audited financial statement of JKG because none such audited financial statement exists. Or if one exists, the contents will show that JKG is not qualified to bid for the DOTC (Department of Transportation and Communications)-LTO project,” the DOJ said.

“This would be the reasonable conclusion, especially since the respondents did not submit their countervailing evidence showing their financial capability to undertake the project,” the DOJ stressed.