Ex-AFP comptroller Garcia, family charged with money laundering

The Office of the Ombudsman has filed a money laundering case against former military comptroller Maj. Gen. Carlos F. Garcia (retired) and his family for allegedly amassing millions of unexplained wealth while he was still in active service. The case was filed with the Sandiganbayan more than five years after the first set of indictments was slapped on Garcia, his wife Clarita, and children Ian Carl, Juan Paulo and Timothy Mark over the same issue. Ombudsman Ma. Merceditas N. Gutierrez approved the recommendation of prosecutor Marissa S. Bernal to charge the Garcias with violation of Section 4(a) of RA 9160 or the Anti-Money Laundering Act. This was after graft investigators found out that the Garcias have a total deposit of P303.27 million and withdrawal of P73 million and $967,215.99 in at least 10 banks, which they said constituted ‘unlawful activity’ punishable under RA 9160 because the funds involved were proceeds of plunder. They also noted that in 2003, Garcia declared in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) a total asset of only P2.76 million. Attached in the charge sheet were several graphs and tables detailing the alleged suspicious withdrawals of the family from October 5 to 8, 2004, or about the time then Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo subpoenaed Garcia’s service records and SALNs from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). The prosecutors said each of the defendants helped in draining their family accounts, including their dollar deposit of $967,215.99. A P120,000 bail bond has been recommended for each defendant. Garcia remains in detention in the national police headquarters in Camp Crame due to a non-bailable plunder charge pending before the Sandiganbayan’s Second Division, while the government is exerting efforts to have his wife and children extradited from the United States. The Garcias are also named defendants in two forfeiture cases ongoing trial at the anti-graft court’s Fourth Division. Garcia, a member of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) batch 1971, has been acquitted of three perjury charges and convicted in one count, for which he received a short prison sentence that was mooted by his continuing detention. - KBK, GMANews.TV