FORMER Commission on Elections chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. was accused of graft and plunder Monday before the Office of the Ombudsman for signing a P240 million contract with Smartmatic-TIM to rehabilitate 81,000 precinct count optical scan machines, a deal that was eventually struck down as illegal by the Supreme Court.
In his complaint, former Negros Oriental congressman Jacinto Paras also implicated ex-commissioners Lucenito Tagle and Elias Yusoph, and incumbent Commissioners Christian Robert Lim and Al Parreño for approving Resolution No. 992 issued in December 2014.
Cesar Flores, Elie Moreno and Marlon Garcia—all Smartmatic officials—were also listed in the complaint.
Paras questioned the deal done through direct contracting, which is prohibited under the Government Procurement Reform Act of 2003.
Paras urged Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales to conduct an investigation into the alleged conspiracy of Brillantes, Tagle, Yusoph, Lim and Parreño for granting the diagnostics and repair service contract for 81,000 PCOS machines without a public bidding.
The contract was awarded on Jan. 30, 2015, just a month before Brillantes, Tagle and Yusoph retired in February 2015.
Paras said the “midnight deal” was sort of a “pabaon” (cash send-off gift) for the retired Comelec officials.
The petitioners also accused the respondents of receiving kickbacks of at least P50 million for their “very strong defense of the deal between Comelec and Smartmatic.”
The diagnostics and PCOS repair originally cost P300 million, but this was later lowered to P240 million.
On April 21, 2015, the Supreme Court declared the Smartmatic deal null and void.
Paras said he initiated the filing of plunder and graft complaints because “nobody stood and pursued the criminal aspect of the declaration of nullity by the Supreme Court on the extended warranty contract.”
Paras also called on the Ombudsman to conduct a lifestyle check on Brillantes, Tagle, Yusoph, Lim and Parreño, and urged the Anti-Money Laundering Council to look into their bank accounts.