SEN. Richard Gordon yesterday said the Blue Ribbon committee investigation into the multi-billion-peso Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. mess would soon end.
“Mapapatunayan natin talaga na maraming nangulimbat, maraming nakinabang diyan (We can prove that may people plundered and benefited from the contracts),” Gordon said in an interview in Vice President Leni Robredo’s weekly radio program.
The Blue Ribbon which Gordon chairs started the probe in August last year and was supposed to conduct its 18th hearing on January 13 but Gordon canceled it after several Senate staff members and employees tested positive for COVID-19. The 17th hearing was held last December 21.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III last week said the Blue Ribbon can end its probe after one or two more hearings as it has enough evidence to prosecute government officials and private citizens. He also urged the panel to come up with a report so the Senate can formally recommend the prosecution of those behind the alleged irregularities before Congress adjourns next month.
Gordon said once the probe is finished, government will decide as to who will be charged in connection with the mess which involves the grant of billion in contracts for pandemic supplies to Pharmally whose paid-up capital was only P625,000 by the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM), using funds of the Department of Health.
“Nasa gobyerno na iyan kung pa-file-an nila iyan. Alam mo naman iyong report natin, marami nang nakakulong (It will now be up to the government to file charges against all those involved. You know our reports have resulted in the arrest of all those involved),” he added.
The Senate Blue Ribbon committee started its investigation on August 18 last year after the Commission on Audit flagged the alleged illegal transfer of some P42 billion DOH funds for pandemic response to the PS-DBM. Senators have been questioning the apparent preference for Pharmally.
Senators suspect that Pharmally was given the supplies contract due to the influence of Michael Yang, a former economic adviser of President Duterte, who introduced company officials to the President in March 2017.
The hearings have led to the arrest of Linconn Ong, Pharmally director; Mohit Dargani, treasurer/secretary; and Twinkle Dargani, president, for their failure to fully cooperate with the investigation.
The Dargani siblings were arrested last November on board a private plane that would have taken them to Malaysia, while still at the Davao International Airport.
Last November, Gordon, chairman of the Blue Ribbon committee, ordered that Ong and Mohit Dargani have been transferred to the Pasay City jail, from detention at the Senate, as they still refused to surrender the company’s financial documents needed in the Senate investigation.
Twinkle Dargani was released from Senate detention early this month for humanitarian considerations.
Lloyd Christopher Lao, former PS-DBM head, has been ordered arrested by the committee also for refusal to fully cooperate in the investigation, but cannot be located by the Office of the Senate Sergeant at Arms.
