Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairperson George Garcia said he will coordinate with the US Department of Justice to flag a possible bank fraud case after a US-based bank account was allegedly used to pose as his offshore account.
Earlier, SAGIP Party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta claimed that Garcia owned illegal offshore accounts in New York and in the Cayman Islands, both of which Garcia had dismissed as fake.
Garcia, quoted by ABS-CBN News, said he thinks the US should take action since this is bank fraud. He said that the United States Patriot Act mandates American agencies to strictly enforce policies to prevent fraud.
He also said there might be possible identity theft since his name was made to appear as the owner of the bank account.
Garcia added that he prefers to appear and participate before Congressional investigations to debunk allegations that he accepted illegal funds through his alleged offshore accounts.
He noted that the US will also always “”protect its systems” in these cases.
Garcia earlier signed a waiver to allow Philippine authorities to check his bank accounts after a former lawmaker received an anonymous tip that the Comelec chief was hiding illegal funds in offshore accounts.
Garcia also said he has never traveled to the US or any of its territories where his alleged offshore accounts were opened.
Garcia had rejected calls for him to resign, and instead dared his accusers to prove the authenticity of the documents they had been presenting to the public.
The Comelec chief also said that the “demolition job” against him and his agency has one end goal: to coerce them to use the old vote counting machines in the 2025 elections, ABS-CBN News further reported.
Marcoleta in earlier reports, presented a bank document showing that a certain Jaleo Consulting LLC — a Florida-based firm — deposited $276.42 to Garcia’s alleged account in Chase Bank to prove that the account exists.
Jaleo Consulting LLC is managed by a certain Jose A. Herrera, according to records from the State of Florida.
Documents from the Barbados Corporate Registry Data — made public by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists — showed that Herrera had served as a director of Barbados-based Albatross Technologies Corporation, which shared the same Barbados office address as Smartmatic International Corporation.
In 2023, the Comelec banned Smartmatic from participating in any election procurement after the former contractor was tagged in a US bribery case against former poll chief Andres Bautista.
In April, the Supreme Court reversed the Comelec’s decision to disqualify Smartmatic from all election biddings, saying that “finding of grave abuse of discretion on the part of the COMELEC En Banc is not sufficient basis to nullify the public bidding.”
