Ni NOEL ABUEL
Inendorso ng Senate Blue Ribbon Committee na sampahan ng patung-patong na kasong administratibo at kriminal ang dalawang opisyales ng Procurement Service-Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) dahil sa pagkakasangkot sa maanomalyang kontrata sa Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation noong 2022.
Kasong paglabag sa anti-graft and corruption, plunder, tax evasion, at procurement ang inirekomenda laban kay dating PS-DBM officer-in-charge Lloyd Christopher Lao at Procurement Director Warren Rex Liong, habang may karagdagang kasong falsification of public document kay Liong.
“The pre-meditated plunder commences with appointing an all-in-one trusted election supporter, a bent lawyer who reports and is accountable only to the President and to no other, is plentifully corrupt, and one who has a deplorable sense of indifference to the suffering of others, to a low-profile, but which turns out to be a highly-lucrative government posting,” ayon sa initial report ng komite kay Lao.
“As concertmaster, he ensures that the contracts are given mostly to a favored or favorite supplier even if the corporation will not even qualify technically, legally, and financially,” dagdag nito.
Samantala, inirekomenda rin ng Blue Ribbon Committee ang pagpapa-deport palabas ng bansa ang negosyanteng si Michael Yang, na dating presidential economic adviser, dahil sa pagkakasangkot umano nito sa nasabing maanomalyang kontrata.
Nilabag umano ni Yang ang tax evasion sa ilalim ng Republic Act 8424 o ang National Internal Revenue Tax Code at pagsasampa ng kasong kriminal dahil sa pagiging undesirable alien.
“Despite decades of lucrative and peaceful sojourn in our country, his care is not for others who had not only been hospitable to him, but also even allowed him to amass great wealth. He has no healthy respect for law for he had always been sheltered by the mayor, and now the chief executive of the land. He displays arrogance during hearings, evincing a lack of respect for authority,” ayon sa report ng komite.
Nabatid na sa isinagawang mga pagdinig, natuklasan na nagmamay-ari si Yang ng ilang multi-million properties sa buong bansa kabilang ang Davao mall chain DCLA, at ilang gusali sa Manila at Clark, Pampanga.
Sa pagdinig, tumanggi si Yang na sabihin ang pinagmumulan ng negosyo nito dahil sa pangambang mawala ang mga customers nito.
“It seems to become clearer that his role might not be that of a mere financier; but this ‘pagador’ has played a role in this scandal more than that of a mere financier. He refuses to tell the Committee the source of his money, the extent of his businesses and holdings, how much taxes he has paid,” ayon pa sa report.
“He prevaricates at the drop of a hat: instructing his people not to admit that he lives in a Forbes Park address thus frustrating the subpoena service; initially he avers that he had no more dealings with Pharmally after the 2017 Davao introductions, only to admit later that indeed he introduced Pharmally to his friends,” dagdag nito.
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