Main Makati city hall overpriced? Case dismissed, Binay says

Lawyer Renato Bondal claimed yesterday that the main city hall building in Makati is overpriced, an allegation that was immediately as nothing but a revival of a dead issue by the camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay.

Sen. Nancy Binay, the Vice President’s daughter, also lashed out at the ruling Liberal Party (LP), saying there is a pattern in how it destroys the image of rival presidential aspirants.

She reiterated that her fa ther has only five bank accounts and not 242 as reported by the Anti-Money Laundering Council ( AMLC) to the

Court of Appeals (CA), which issued a freeze order on all the accounts last week.

Businessman Antonio Tiu is also contesting the inclusion of his bank accounts in the order, saying AMLC misled the court into believing that his accounts were used by the Vice President.

Tiu, who is among Binay’s alleged dummies, denied allegations of unjustifiable transactions in his accounts, claiming these all rose from legitimate business transactions, covered with supporting documents and properly reported to the public and the Securities Exchange Commission.

Bondal, a former Binay ally and now among the whistle-blowers in the alleged corrupt practices in Makati City, said the city government released about P7 billion for the construction of the main building but failed to say by how much it was overpriced.

In previous Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee hearings, Bondal told lawmakers of alleged overpricing in the construction of the Makati City Science High School building, University of Makati College of Nursing building and the Friendship Suites.

Joey Salgado, head of the Office of the Vice President’s media affairs, said the Sandiganbayan has already dismissed a case filed against Binay on the issue of overpricing of the main city hall building for lack of factual basis.

“This is just part of their desperate effort to malign the Vice President. Bondal has yet to be made accountable by the Senate for lying under oath and for making baseless and false accusations against the Vice President and private individuals,” he said.

Rico Quicho, Binay’s spokesman for political affairs, said their camp expects more issues to be thrown at Binay as the survey season nears.

Quicho described the timing and purpose of the leak of the AMLC report and the release of the CA freeze order as “highly suspect.”

“It demonstrates a pattern of hurling exaggerated tales and lies against the Vice President in an attempt to pull his survey ratings down to benefit other presidential aspirants,” he said.

Despite a string of corruption allegations, Binay remained the top presidential contender for 2016 based on surveys conducted by the Social Weather Stations and Pulse Asia.

Quicho said they expect the National Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice to resurrect the issue of the 350-hectare property in Rosario, Batangas allegedly owned by the Vice President through a dummy.

“This is the start of their last ditch effort to malign the Vice President. As we enter the survey season, we expect within the next few weeks the NBI and DOJ to resurrect the Rosario property issue despite clear statements and evidence showing Tony Tiu’s company as its owner,” he also said.

Quicho also expects the Office of the Ombudsman “to press its obsession to suspend Mayor Jun Binay despite the clear absence of factual and legal basis.”

Quicho said the “unfair and irresponsible” release of the AMLC’s “confidential and one-sided” report has all the underpinnings of a sinister plot to deprive the Vice President of the opportunity to be heard.

No billions

The younger Binay found incredulous the reports that her father, family members and friends, maintained billions of deposits in over 240 bank accounts, which have been subjected to AMLC scrutiny.

“We don’t have that much. They (political opponents) wanted to heap billions on my father so people will despise him,” she said.

Nancy, the eldest among the Binay siblings, lamented that some news reports were deliberately slanted to make her father appear bad in the public eye.

She also revealed a pattern in how some LP allies destroy the reputations of their political enemies, pointing out that former Senate president Manny Villar, who was then leading in the presidential surveys, was subjected to a demolition job through the alleged insertion of a P200-million budget for the C-5 extension project.

Nancy challenged the AMLC to make public its supposed report after learning that former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado was distributing copies of documents that listed the bank accounts monitored by the AMLC. Mercado has appeared as witness/resource person at the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee investigating the alleged overpricing anomalies in Makati City.

Asked if she sees the hand of President Aquino in the controversy, she remained hopeful that the friendship between the two families would remain intact and go beyond the 2016 presidential elections.

Bad faith

Tiu, on the other hand, claims the AMLC acted in bad faith when it misled the CA into issuing a freeze order on his bank accounts and that of his firms – Greenergy Holdings Inc., Sunchamp Real Estate Development Corp. and Earthright Holdings Inc.

He said AMLC “lied to the Court of Appeals and its authorized representatives perjured themselves.”

Tiu said the freeze order, which he received on Friday, was hinged “solely on the sweeping statement made by AMLC under oath that the multiple transactions involving receipt of inward remittances, inter- branch fund transfers among Greenergy, Earthright, Sunchamp and SPCMB Law Offices was without any underlying legal or trade obligation, purpose or economic justification and/ or that it was allegedly not commensurate to the business or financial capacity of the individuals involved.”

“This is not true. They (AMLC) knew that the transactions were legitimate and fully documented, disclosed to the public and even to the Securities and Exchange Commission where one of the AMLC

members is head,” he explained to The

STAR.

Specifically, Tiu cited the sale of his Greenergy’s interest in a biomass power plant for at least P400 million, the sale by Earthright of marketable securities to Greenergy for approximately P110 million, the acquisition by Greenergy of additional marketable securities in the amount of around P170 million and receipt by Greenergy of the unpaid subscription that was due from him, Earthright and Sunchamp for the total amount of more than P300 million.

He explained that such legitimate disposal of the asset to a minority partner was fully disclosed to the public through their company’s website www.scbiopwer.

com , adding that the law firm of Binay only served as his counsel in those transactions.

“Clearly, AMLC acted in bad faith and deliberately concealed from the Court of Appeals the truth on the transactions that allegedly warranted my inclusion as well as those of my companies in the freeze order,” he pointed out.

Tiu said the inclusion of his mother’s bank accounts in the freeze order was even more surprising.

“What is worse is that they included my 61- year- old mother in the freeze order. No allegations were ever raised against her. She is a private citizen who should have been spared by this. But no, they targeted my mother for no reason at all except to once again harass me,” he lamented.

While he was expecting other agencies to be used by political enemies of Binay, the businessman admitted he was surprised that AMLC officials allowed themselves to be used in the “attacks.”

“It is disappointing that politicians and the AMLC are willing to risk the lives of more than 5,000 hardworking employees, farmers and suppliers who are directly and indirectly reliant on my businesses for their livelihood. This cycle of politics being involved in business, and business being involved in politics depending on who is in power must be stopped if we want our country to move forward and attain its true potential,” he added.