Philippine Agri Chief, Officials Charged With Rigging $9.7 Million Ice Machine Bids

November 18, 2009 7:16 p.m. EST

Manila, Philippines (AHN) - A businessman filed graft charges against the head and 13 officials of the agriculture department Wednesday for allegedly rigging the bidding for a $9.7 million (456 million pesos) refrigeration equipment.

Allan V. Ragasa, vice-president of Sunvar Trading Co., filed the charges before the Office of the Ombudsman and asked the anti-graft court to suspend Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap and the officials of National Agribusiness Corp. (Nabcor), an agency under the Department of Agriculture.

Ragasa sought the suspension to prevent them from tampering with records on the procurement of 98 units of ice-making machines with liquid quick freeze capability.

In his complaint, Ragasa claimed Nabcor awarded the bidding for the refrigeration equipment to a company incorporated one day before the opening of bids on Aug. 26. However, Nabcor's lawyer said the winning bidder, Integrated Refrigeration, only amended its name from Triple 8 Agro Trading Inc.