Vitangcol pleads 'not guilty' to $30-M graft raps

MANILA, Philippines — Former Metro Rail Transit Line 3 general manager Al Vitangcol III on Wednesday maintained his innocence from graft charges in connection with his alleged attempt to extort some $30 million from Czech company Inekon Group in 2012.

Vitangcol pleaded “not guilty” before the magistrates of the Sandiganbayan Sixth Division after the information of the cases was read before him by the clerk of court during his arraignment.

The court set the preliminary conference of the cases on August 30 to 31, wherein the prosecution and the defense are expected to finish marking their documentary exhibits and identify the names of their witnesses for the trial proper.

The court, meanwhile, set the pre-trial conference on September 28 during which, both camps must submit their respective final lists of witnesses and documentary evidence.

Vitangcol immediately left the Sandiganbayan premises after his arraignment declining to comment on the issue when approached by the media.

Vitangcol and his co-accused Wilson De Vera, one of the directors of maintenance provider PH Trams, are facing two counts each of violation of Section 3 (b) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The case stemmed from Vitangcol and De Vera's alleged attempt to extort from Inekon Group some $30 million, which was later reduced to $2.5 million, in exchange for awarding to the company 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 awarding to the company the contract for the maintenance of MRT 3.

De Vera had earlier been arraigned in which he entered a “not guilty” plea.

Vitangcol's arraignment, meanwhile, was postponed twice after he filed a motion to quash the case, which the court eventually denied with finality last May “for lack of merit.”

The court found no merit on Vitangcol's contention that the Sandiganbayan has already lost jurisdiction over the cases following the enactment of Republic Act 10660 or the “Act Strengthening Further the Functional and Structural Organization of the Sandiganbayan.”

The extortion try which allegedly happened on July 9 to 10, 2012 was exposed by then Czech Ambassador to the Philippines Josef Rychtar. The incident supposedly took place in Rychtar's house in Forbes Park in Makati City.

The contract for the supply of coaches was eventually awarded to CNR Dalian Locomotive and Rolling Stock Company 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.

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 MRT-3 maintenance deal to PH Trams and its joint venture Comm Builders and Technology Philippines Corporation.