Friday, June 27, 2008
31 malversation raps filed against former bry. treasurer
A FORMER barangay treasurer is facing 30 counts of malversation of public funds at the Regional Trial Court (RTC) for allegedly pocketing over P300,000 in government funds.
Nadine Menchavez, according to the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas, supposedly siphoned money by falsifying the entries in some checks and forging the signatures on the approving officer on others.
The anti-graft office has now recommended the conduct of a fact-finding investigation against officers of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) for failing to properly scrutinize the checks Menchavez presented.
Falsified
Had the forgeries been discovered, the anti-graft office said, the “encashment of the falsified checks subject of this inquiry” would have been avoided.
Other than that, Menchavez also failed to liquidate some P15,537 in cash advances, the latest of which was dated Dec. 31, 2002. It is an act the anti-graft office also considers an act of malversation.
Menchavez, who was the barangay treasurer of Poblacion, Sogod town at the time of the incident, now needs to raise close to half a million in bail to avoid detention.
Following the rules, warrants of arrest will be issued against Menchavez as soon as the cases, brought to the RTC criminal division yesterday in three cardboard boxes, get assigned to a judge.
The anti-graft office investigated Menchavez beginning 2005, after the barangay council of Poblacion, Sogod issued a resolution calling for an investigation.
Investigation
A fact-finding investigation was conducted and, in April 10, 2006, the matter was elevated into a formal criminal and administrative probe.
Based on the allegations raised, Menchavez allegedly altered the figures reflected on otherwise legally issued checks and forged the signature of the barangay captain.
The complainants, members of the council who signed the resolution, then submitted the result of a document analysis prepared by Romeo Varona of the PNP Crime Laboratory.
Graft Investigator Pio Dargantes, in May of 2006, ordered Menchavez to submit a counter-affidavit but the respondent did not comply.
No counter-affidavit
The absence of a counter-affidavit forced the anti-graft office to resolve the complaint based only on the evidence at hand.
According to the resolution, Menchavez altered the figures indicated in at least four DBP checks. In one check, Menchavez allegedly altered the original amount of P39,000 to P139,000.
For reasons not established in the Ombudsman resolution, Menchavez returned P90,000 by depositing in the same account number. However, the remaining P10,000 could not be accounted for.
Based on the anti-graft office’s findings, a total of P60,000 was lost this way.
She supposedly repeated the scheme in 26 other checks and encashed it by forging the signatures of then barangay captain Marlon Dosado. (KNR)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (June 27, 2008 issue)
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