MANILA (UPDATE) - The Department of Justice (DOJ) opened 3 unauthorized bank accounts to "park" government funds and released salaries without supporting documents during the time of its resigned chief Vitaliano Aguirre II, the Commission on Audit (COA) said in its 2017 audit report.

The report was submitted to Justice Sec. Menardo Guevarra a month after Aguirre stepped down as Justice Secretary amid criticism over his dismissal of drug charges against a confessed drug lord and in the wake of figuring in a bribery scandal.

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UNAUTHORIZED ACCOUNTS

About P65.68 million was placed in 3 accounts in the Landbank of the Philippines "without authority," state auditors said in the report addressed to Aguirre's successor.

Some P52.52 million was kept in an account for the Victims Compensation Fund, while another account for the Witness Protection Program had a balance of P379,706, the report said.

Another P12.72 million was placed in an account intended for the DOJ's Trust Fund for victims of the AMAN Future pyramiding scandal and Typhoon Yolanda, as well as funds for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC).

Under Executive Order No. 338 in effect since 1996, all government agencies must transfer "all public money deposited with depository banks and other institutions to the Bureau of the Treasury regardless of income source."

State auditors said the DOJ transferred about P621.64 million to automated teller machine (ATM) accounts "without corresponding payments."

"The ATM account was used as a parking account for unused NCA (notice of cash allocation) to avoid lapsing," the COA said.

Under existing government policies, funds not utilized by agencies at the end of every quarter must be returned to the Treasury.

"We recommend that the Finance Service stop the practice of transferring funds to the ATM Payroll account for transactions without valid expenses and to return to the Bureau of the Treasury any deposit without valid obligations," COA said.

In a statement, Aguirre explained that this was done "for the benefit of the department."

"This means that the funds were transferred from one DOJ account to another DOJ account, for the benefit of the Department," he said.

"This would ensure that there will be no case that payment of salaries will be delayed," he said.

DISBURSEMENTS 'UNSUPPORTED' BY DOCUMENTS

Four joint entry vouchers (JEV) amounting to P27.68 million intended for salaries of DOJ job order employees were "not supported with payroll registers," COA said.

All 4 questionable vouchers were dated March 1, 2018.

"We rejoined that the Accounting Division submit the supporting documents for the four unsupported JEVs and to expedite their verification of the transactions," COA said.

Aguirre said the DOJ Finance Services told him that the payroll vouchers were considered unsupported as the wrong documents were attached to releases.

"When these JEVs were drawn, there were supporting documents attached thereto, specifically the Disbursement Vouchers and the corresponding Payroll Warrant Registers," Aguirre said.

"It appears that the COA requires the submission of the document entitled Payroll Register. This document is available and submitted to the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) as the basis for crediting of the amounts to officials and employees," he said.

AGUIRRE BLAMES SUBORDINATES

Aguirre, in a statement, distanced himself from the irregularities and blamed personnel "below his level."

"These transactions did not reach the knowledge of the
undersigned. These transactions involved operations between the Personnel Division and the Accounting Division," Aguirre said.

"I have no participation whatsoever in the transactions subject matter of the Annual Audit Report released by the Commission on Audit (COA)," he said.

In a statement, Guevarra said the DOJ's finance personnel told him that "everything could be explained."

"On a preliminary basis, they told me that everything could be explained," Guevarra said in a text message to ABS-CBN News.

"I will go over the memo that was submitted to me late yesterday (Friday), and I will see if the explanation is satisfactory," he said.