DOJ seeks US help in tracing source of 'Hello, Nico'

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Justice (DOJ) has sought the assistance of the US government in tracing the source of the “Hello, Nico” taped conversation, which could be the biggest poll fraud controversy in the May 10 automated polls.

Secretary Alberto Agra said his office has already sent a letter of request to the US embassy in Manila through the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT).

“We are asking their help in determining who uploaded the supposed conversation in the website that was already found by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI),” Agra told reporters in a press conference.

The DOJ chief was referring to the alleged wiretapped phone conversation between Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno and Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer.

He said the NBI had already traced the website where the conversation was uploaded.

“The website was already traced but once you open it, you will be rerouted to another site, apparently based in Germany. It was apparently a US-based website so we are asking the help of the US through MLAT,” he revealed.

Agra said a copy of the compact disc (CD) containing the taped conversation had already been turned over to NBI Director Nestor Mantaring.

Both Puno and Ferrer already denied that they were the persons in the phone conversation that had circulated in the Internet.

As to the progress of the investigation of the compact flash (CF) cards, Agra said inventory is still ongoing. “Inventory is still ongoing. The purpose is to determine if there are lacking or missing CF cards. If there were missing, then we have to know if these were in Quezon City,” he said.

Agra also said that an official of Smartmatic whom he did not identify had already given a sworn statement and the NBI has also started to take the sworn statement of an official of the Comelec.

After getting the results of the inventory, the next step is to determine if there is a violation of elections laws and file charges against personalities who committed offenses, if there are any. 

“But I don’t want to preempt the results of the probe. Let’s wait before taking the next step,” he said.

Still, the DOJ chief stressed that the investigation is focusing on two questions: How many CF cards are missing or lacking? And, were those supposedly issued to Quezon City?

Agra said losing Quezon City mayoralty bet Rep. Annie Rosa Susano “may be invited to a conference” to possibly shed light as to how she was able to obtain CF cards.