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Monday, October 31, 2005
Former LTO worker charged anew with fraud, overpricing
The Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas filed seven criminal cases against a former Land Transportation Office (LTO) 7 clerk for pocketing more than P15,000 from fees she had collected from vehicle manufacturers, assemblers, importers and dealers.
The court recommended a P5,000 bail for each case against Farida T. Lucero, whom the anti-graft office ordered dismissed in 2003 for dishonesty over another set of cases.
Lucero was earlier charged with 69 counts of malversation of public funds for the same offense. She allegedly pocketed P46,000 from issuing fake receipts in 2002.
Bail
The anti-graft office recommended a P20,000 bail for each of the 69 offenses.
In the seven cases, Lucero allegedly made it appear in the original receipts that the car companies paid P1,010 to P3,010. But the amount reflected in the duplicate or collector’s copy was only P40 per transaction.
Lucero, in her counter affidavit, said that while the report of LTO’s legal department showed the office found receipts amounting to about P15,000, the legal department did not identify her as the one who benefited from it.
Lucero said that for this reason, she should be cleared of the charges. She said the issue is about who was responsible for the anomaly, rather than whether they were tampered with or not.
But Graft Investigation and Prosecution Officer Charina Navarro-Quijano ruled that since Lucero signed the receipt for the bigger amount, there’s a presumption she demanded for the money and kept it. (GN)
(October 31, 2005 issue)
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