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By William B. Depasupil, Reporter
THE Metropolitan Waterworks and
Sewerage System (MWSS) on Thursday filed graft charges before the
Department of Justice against its former head for allegedly
committing acts inimical to the interest of the
utility firm.
Charged for violation of Sec.
3(e) and Sec. 3(g) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and
Corrupt Practices Act was former MWSS Administrator Lorenzo Jamora,
a provincemate of Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez.
In a four-page
complaint-affidavit, the utility firm, through its new Administrator
Diosdado Jose Allado, said that Jamora, during his incumbency,
caused the purchase of P791.40-million worth of Home Guarantee Corp.
(HGC) debenture bonds and National Power Corp. (Napocor) bonds,
using the agency’s “restricted cash” without the approval of
the utility firm’s board of trustees.
Debenture bonds are long-term
bonds, bearing fixed interest and usually unsecured.
“In order to pay for the
purchase of the above-mentioned HGC and Napocor bonds, respondent
Jamora caused the pre-termination of the time deposits inclusive of
the amount of P791,399,362.76, which are classified as restricted
cash of the MWSS because they are intended for the payment of MWSS
loans to the Japan Bank of International Cooperation,” Allado, in
his complaint-affidavit, said.
The MWSS board upon discovery of
the illegal use of the restricted cash immediately passed Resolution
No.2008-92 “disavowing any transfer of the funds made by the
former administrator, the same having been made without approval of
the MWSS board of trustee.”
Allado, in an interview, said
they decided to directly file the case before the Justice department
because the MWSS does not have an investigating arm to conduct the
probe against Jamora.
“It is not only the Office of
the Ombudsman that could investigate graft charges against a
government official but also the Justice department,” Allado told
The Manila Times.
The utility firm claimed that the
transaction for the purchase of the HGC debenture bonds was
“manifestly and grossly disadvantageous” to the MWSS because the
said bonds were purchased in the secondary market at a premium
price, resulting in an immediate loss of P19.46 million.
As for the Napocor bonds, the
MWSS said the bonds were purchased with a face value of P213.80
million at a premium-buying price of almost P226 million, which
resulted in a loss of P12.19 million.
The MWSS also pointed out that
the net interest to be gained from the purchase of HGC debenture
bonds and Napocor bonds is P14.42 million, while the net interest
would be P20.74 million if the same amount of money is deposited in
other government securities.
The utility firm explained that
the Napocor bonds are not tradable and are held to maturity
instruments, hence, they cannot be pre-terminated. This means the
bonds cannot be converted to cash in case MWSS needs to pay its
obligations.
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