NBI says Harry Roque has fled PH

- Advertisement -

THE National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) yesterday said it has unconfirmed information that former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque has left the country.

“May impormasyon po kaming ganyan pero hindi pa kumpirmado (We also have information but it’s not confirmed yet),” NBI Director Jaime Santiago told radio DZBB but declined to give additional details.

“May information po kaming ganyan pero hindi na namin dapat i-discuss sa publiko. Pasensya na po (We have information like that, but we cannot discuss it in public. My apologies),” he said.

- Advertisement -

Vice President Sara Duterte has earlier hinted in a press briefing that Roque has left the country. She did not elaborate.

Roque is subject of an arrest order issued by the quad committee of the House of Representatives after he failed to attend and produce documents related to the panel’s ongoing inquiry into the crimes related to the illegal operations of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) hubs in the country.

But Dana Krizia Sandoval, spokesperson of the Bureau of Immigration (BI), said they have no record of Roque leaving the country.

“No recorded recent attempt to depart. As per BI records po, he is still in the country,” Sandoval said.

The NBI and the BI are attached agencies of the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Roque went into hiding after he was cited for contempt by the quad committee after he failed to submit documents that were subpoenaed by the joint panel related to its inquiry into illegal POGOs.

Among the documents requested that Roque was ordered to submit were business records, tax returns, and his Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth when he was a government official.

The Supreme Court has denied the petition for the issuance of a writ of amparo filed by Roque’s daughter to stop the House probe, saying the writ “is not the proper remedy against congressional contempt and detention orders.”

Roque is also the subject of a trafficking in persons complaint before the DOJ, with the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) and the PNP Criminal and Investigation Detection Group (CIDG) saying that he benefitted from the fruits of the trafficking in persons operations and other illegal activities of Lucky South 99, the operator of the raided POGO hub in Porac, Pampanga, and the Whirlwind company, and kept silent about it to authorities.

Author

- Advertisement -

Share post: