Jailed retired Maj. Gen. Carlos F. Garcia pleaded not guilty Tuesday to the money laundering charge the Office of the Ombudsman recently filed against him and his family.

Garcia, former comptroller of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, was accused of laundering over P300 million in alleged ill-gotten wealth, along with his wife, Clarita, and children, Ian Carl, Juan Paulo and Timothy Mark.

The retired military official is presently detained in Camp Crame while being tried for plunder, which is a capital offense punishable by life imprisonment, while his wife and sons are facing extradition proceedings in the United States also in connection with the plunder case filed against them in 2005.

Garcia was arraigned in the second division of the Sandiganbayan, which also hears their four-year-old plunder case.

In the charge sheet for money laundering, the Ombudsman alleged that the Garcias conspired to deposit and withdraw illegally sourced money using their accounts with eight banks and two lending institutions between July 2002 and October 2004.

The anti-graft body said they deposited a total P303, 272,005.99 in their accounts and eventually withdrew from the funds a total of P73 million and US$976,215.99, despite knowing that these are “proceeds” were in violation of Republic Act 7080 or the Anti-Plunder Law.