Manila: The Philippine government has received a $1.3 million (Dh4.7 million) cheque representing the amount recovered by the US from a Filipino general sentenced by a court in 2005 for amassing unexplained wealth.
In a statement, the Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales hailed the turnover of the cheque, which represents a portion of recovered ill-gotten gains from forfeited assets of former Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Comptroller Major General Carlos Garcia, as “another victory in its [the country’s] fight against corruption.”
US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg on June 3, handed the US Treasury a cheque of the amount $1,384,940.28 to Morales.
The amount are net proceeds from the sale of property, the ownership of which was traced to the family of Garcia in Manhattan, New York (a condominium unit at The Trump Tower along Park Avenue) and the funds from two accounts maintained in Citibank, New York.
The assets were tracked down by the efforts of the US Department of Homeland Security.
In 2005, Garcia, who was chief finance officer of the armed forces, was sentenced by a military court to two years of hard labour, dismissal from service and forfeiture of his retirement pay for violating the code on discipline.
He was also accused of perjury for misrepresenting the real value of his accumulated assets from 2002 to 2003.
He was brought before the anti-graft court, Sandiganbayan, and was able to enter into a plea bargain with the government.
In 2011, the government dropped criminal charges against him on the condition that he would return the amount that he took.
The trail of corruption, led by General Garcia, started when his two sons were arrested upon their entry to California in December 2003 with $100,000, which they did not declare to US customs authorities.
The arrests led to an investigation by the US and Philippine governments that further unearthed ill-gotten gains that included a number of cars and real state properties, which Garcia’s salary as a general could not justify.
In January 2012, the US government through then US Ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas junior initially turned over to the Philippine government $100,000, representing cash seized by US Customs authorities from Garcia’s two sons.
Morales expressed gratitude to the US government for its vigilant effort in recovering the assets.
Garcia was alleged to have stolen a total P303 million (Dh24.97 million) during his term as head of the military’s finance unit.
“This milestone in asset recovery sends the message across that raiders of public coffers can no longer hide their unexplained wealth; they cannot hide their dummy bank accounts, wherever located; and they cannot hide from the long arm of the law,” she stated.
Goldberg, for his part, said: “Battling public corruption is a challenge that all countries face, including the United States. Meeting that challenge is vitally important to ensure public confidence in the honesty and integrity of public servants.”
