House grills Vitangcol over extort raps

MANILA - The House of Representatives committee on good government and public accountability grilled outgoing MRT General Manager Al Vitangcol on allegations of extortion and nepotism. At this morning's hearing, Vitangcol admitted he had several meetings with Wilson De Vera but only for the bidding of MRT-related contracts. Vitangcol insisted he has no personal relationship with De Vera and that he is willing to provide his phone records to prove their communication was limited to those meetings. "Nung una po, nagpunta sila dun kasama ang mga taga-Inekon so nakilala ko sila dun kaya nakilala ko sila nung napunta sa kanila ang kontrata so of course pupunta-punta din sila sa opisina because we need to discuss about things to be done," he said. Vitangcol was earlier accused by Czech Republic ambassador to the Philippines Josef Rychtar and Czech train builder Inekon Group CEO Josef Husek of extorting $30 million from the firm. In his affidavit, Husek claimed that in a meeting in July 2012 at Rychtar's residence, which Vitangcol did not attend, businessman Wilson de Vera suggested that Inekon would be chosen as the supplier of the 48 new train coaches for MRT in exchange for $30 million. The proposal was rejected by Inekon because the payment would cause the price of the coaches to rise. Husek stated that De Vera left the premises of Rychtar's residence several times to "consult someone" over the phone. When De Vera came back, he said the $30 million demand had been lowered to $2.5 million. Husek said De Vera claimed that he was talking to Vitangcol. Vitangcol has said he never authorized anyone to negotiate on his behalf and that he never met nor confronted De Vera since the issue surfaced. He said it is possible that De Vera used his name to extort money from the firm. Meanwhile, 1-BAP party-list representative Silvestre Bello came to the aid of Vitangcol, saying the allegations of Czech Ambassador Josef Rychtar may be baseless. He said charges have yet to be filed against Vitangcol. "They are suppsed to resolved whether the complaint has estalished a cause against the respondent pero apparently wala naman. Biro mo November pa? This might also go into the validity of the complaint of the ambassador, meaning wala sigurong katotohanan ang reklamo. Kung hindi dapat nag-file agad ang National Bureau of Investigation at Department of Justice to file a probable cause." ANC DATELINE PHILIPPINES, May 27, 2014