Php3B
license plate contract questioned
Published : Monday, April 01, 2013 00:00
Article Views : 401
Written by : Hector Lawas
AN anti-corruption watchdog yesterday asked Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to investigate the circumstances behind the P3.85 billion contract for vehicle license plates issued by the Land Transportation Office (LTO).
In a letter, Anti-Trapo Movement of the Philippines’ Leon Peralta called on De Lima and Government Procurement Policy Board Executive Director Ruby U. Alvarez to investigate why the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) technical specifications appear to be tailor made for a German firm involved in numerous high profile corruption cases abroad.
“A review of the Bid Documents that have been downloaded from the DoTC website shows that the hot stamping technology, an antiquated technology for motor vehicle plates, has been retained as the technology, despite a worldwide trend against its continued use,” Peralta said in his letter.
A further review of the Bid Documents showed that the technical specifications embedded in the Terms of Reference (TOR) appear to have been configured specifically for Utsch firm.
Utsch is a German company that has been involved in a number of high profile corruption cases involving bribery to government officials in exchange for the contract to produce motor vehicle plates, it was pointed out.
In 2011 for instance, Utsch’s chief executive Helmut Jungbluth, was convicted by an Egyptian court and sentenced in absentia to a year’s jail over a contract with the former Mubarak government.
At least two former Egyptian ministers and ex-prime minister Ahmed Nazif were sentenced to prison on charges of squandering public funds.
It was reported that “Nazif, former interior minister Habib al-Adli and former finance minister Youssef Boutrous-Ghali were accused of granting a contract of license plates to German company Utsch through direct order above market prices, thus violating laws related to tenders and auctions. They were together fined about 200 million Egyptian pounds (33.5 million dollars).
“It is extremely alarming that despite numerous presentations made by various technology providers on the most advanced plate making technologies, and despite widespread knowledge of the trend against the hot stamping technology, the DoTC BAC, apparently without prior consultation with the LTO, unilaterally adopted the hot stamping technology,” Peralta said.
The group is requesting that the DoTC Bids and Awards Committee be investigated over how they arrived at the Terms of Reference, and specifically determining the individual or individuals who crafted the document.
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