Around US$15.2 million, or almost P1 billion, worth of fund transfer from South Korea banks have been traced to 49 offshore accounts of an unnamed Commission on Election (COMELEC) official.
This was the explosive revelation made by Sagip Party-list Representative Rodante Marcoleta, in a press briefing held in Quezon City on July 9, Tuesday.
“This is a work in progress. You must be patient with me and you have to bear with me because we’re still verifying most of these accounts,” Marcoleta said.
Marcoleta pointed out that during the time of the fund transfers certain developments had taken place in the COMELEC’s automated election system (AES) procurement.
The Sagip Party-list representative cited a money transfer allegedly made on 22 June 2023, where a $148,000 deposit transaction was completed by a certain Stephen Schultz/Kyong Baek from Standard Chartered Bank Jong Ro Main Branch in South Korea to Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore.
This happened, Marcoleta observed, when the election body declared the previously procured and government-owned voting counting machine (VCMs) as unserviceable.
Rep. Marcoleta likewise mentioned a $157,350 bank transfer which allegedly coincided with the COMELEC’s approval of the terms of reference for the 2025 national elections on 21 July 2023 without convening the poll body’s Advisory Council.
“The date we are looking at is 15 August 2023. The depositor is certain Hyun Do Yoon. Originating bank – Woori Bank, Seoul, South Korea,” the lawmaker said.
Marcoleta added, “Recipient offshore account, account number 7300083602150, Bank of Shanghai, China… The amount, $157,350.”
Rep. Marcoleta cited these accounts, along with the other accounts, originated mainly from South Korea, where the Miru Systems came from.
COMELEC and Miru Systems earlier signed an $18-billion contract last March for the lease of an AES to be used in the 2025 midterm elections. The South Korean firm is the sole bidder for the lease of a Full Automation System with Transparency Audit/Count (Fastrac) to COMELEC. It bid for the contract with three local partners in a joint venture.
While Marcoleta refused to divulge the identity or rank of the election official, COMELEC Chairman George Erwin Garcia said he was the one being referred to by the lawmaker.
“Huwag na po natin paikut-ikutin. Ako po ‘yung nire-refer doon. Dalawang linggo na po kaming may impormasyon,” Gacia told reporters in an ambush interview on the same day.
Garcia earlier requested assistance from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to look into the bribery allegations.
“I am writing to formally request the assistance of your agency in investigating the recent allegations circulating online that implicate me in accepting bribe money from a Korean firm,” Garcia said in a letter, dated July 8, addressed to NBI Director Jaime Santiago. (ROSE NOVENARIO)
