Vice President Jejomar Binay allegedly appealed to a Commission on Audit (COA) official against releasing the special audit report on the alleged overpriced construction of the Makati City Hall Building 2 until after the May 9 elections, the Office of the Ombudsman said Sunday.
In a statement, the Ombudsman turned the tables on the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) and claimed that it was COA which informed its office that the special audit report on the so-called Makati parking building was ready for transmittal.
“The press release from UNA is a lie. It was the COA that advised the Office of the Ombudsman months ago that the report was ready and that a copy will be transmitted to the Office by the end of January 2016,” it said.
Citing a “very reliable source,” the Ombudsman said Binay “pleaded with a COA official not to release the report until after the elections.”
Following its failure to transmit the document last January, the Ombudsman said COA informed its office it will pass on the special audit report on February 22.
“Failing that as well, they again advised they will transmit it on March 2. We are still waiting,” the Ombudsman said.
UNA president and Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco earlier accused Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales of calling up a COA official to convince them to transmit to her office an “incomplete” special audit report on the controversial construction project.
Quoting COA insiders, Tiangco said Morales allegedly demanded in a call prior to her overseas trip that the audit report be released immediately even if the document does not include the side of Makati City Hall officials.
Through her supposed action, the UNA official said Morales practically wants COA to “effectively discard the findings of 11 audits, including one conducted by technical specialists, which concluded there was no overpricing and that the said project complied with COA regulations.”
Tiangco said the COA would violate its own policy passed in September 2015 that no special audits should be done against candidates running in the upcoming polls.
Binay is seeking the presidency.
The construction of the parking building began in 2007 during the term of Vice President Jejomar Binay as mayor and was continued by his son, Erwin “Junjun” Binay, who succeeded him as the city's chief local executive in 2010.
The younger Binay is already facing graft and falsification of public documents cases before the Sandiganbayan because of the anomaly. —Xianne Arcangel/ALG, GMA News
0 comments: