Aguirre denies saving 2 ex-BI officials from plunder charge

MANILA, Philippines — Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II has denied he deliberately saved from a possible plunder case two former Bureau of Immigration (BI) officials tagged in the alleged extortion of P50 million from Chinese gaming tycoon Jack Lam.

Aguirre belied the insinuation of Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon that the missing P1,000 from the cash extorted from Lam in November 2016 could be an attempt to spare sacked commissioners Michael Robles and Al Argosino from the P50-million treshhold for plunder.

“I challenge Senator Drilon to conduct another investigation and I can face it squarely. He should back up his claim with evidence instead of spreading pure speculation,” Aguirre said in an interview.

“When our staff counted it, the amount was short by P1,000. I did not even touch that money,” he added.

Robles and Argosino are both fraternity brothers of Aguirre and President Duterte in the Lex Taliones Fraternity in San Beda College law shool.

Aguirre explained that what Argosino and Robles immediately returned was the P30 million they got from Lam.

The other P20 million was given to dismissed BI intelligence chief Charles Calima Jr. and former police chief superintendent Wally Sombero, who supposedly served as Lam’s middleman.

Aguirre believes the missing P1,000 bill could be attributed to other factors, including possible mistake on the part of the bank where the cash was withdrawn from.

The former BI officials allegedly extorted the amount from Lam for the release of 1,316 illegal Chinese workers in his casino and leisure park in Clark, Pampanga.

Drilon questioned why the two sacked BI officials were not charged with plunder over the bribe money they allegedly received from Lam.

During last week’s deliberation on the budget of the Department of Justice, it was found out that the money recovered amounted only to P49,999,000.

Instead of plunder, the National Bureau of Investigation has recommended the filing of graft and direct bribery complaints against Robles and Argosino before the Office of the Ombudsman.

The President dismissed Robles and Argosino in December last year. The two former BI officials admitted receiving the amount but insisted it was not bribe money but was part of their covert investigation on the alleged illegal activities of Lam.