Quezon City (13 October) -- THE government will continue to seek the recovery of the P900 million it gave the MegaPacific Consortium as partial payment for the P1.3-billion poll automation contract that the Supreme Court has voided, Solicitor General Antonio Eduardo Nachura said Friday.

Nachura said the recovery of the money and the decision of the Office of the Ombudsman absolving officials of the Commission on Elections and MegaPacific of criminal liability for the voided deal belonged to “two different dimensions” and would not affect each other.

MegaPacific, on the other hand, wants the government to pay the balance of the contract price.

Several groups will question the Ombudsman’s ruling before the Supreme Court.

Nachura said the burden of dealing with the issue of whether government is entitled to a refund or not lies with the high court since it voided the contract.

Several groups have appealed the Ombudsman's ruling before the Supreme Court.