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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Drilon urges COA to conduct 'fraud audit' on gov't deals with Pharmally

Drilon urges COA to conduct 'fraud audit' on gov't deals with Pharmally

Published Sep 20, 2021 01:44 pm

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Monday, Sept. 20 urged the Commission on Audit (COA) to conduct a “fraud audit” on all the contracts entered into by the government through the Department of Budget and Management’s Procurement Service (DBM-PS) with Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp.

Drilon said the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s findings on the anomalous transactions with Pharmally is enough “justification” for the COA to start such a special audit.

“I am asking COA to conduct a fraud audit because we see fraud committed by the DBM-PS and because what COA previously did was a regular annual audit. It was not thoroughly scrutinized,” Drilon said in an interview over Teleradyo.

The senator is referring to the COA’s 2020 annual audit where it flagged the Department of Health’s (DOH) questionable use of its COVID-19 pandemic response fund which is now being investigated by the Senate panel.

The probe has led senators to question the P8.6-billion worth of government contracts in 2020.

However, Drilon said Overall Deputy Ombudsman Warren Rex Liong, a former DBM-PS director, should inhibit from any probe investigation the Ombudsman may conduct on Pharmally.

During the hearings, it was disclosed that Pharmally borrowed money from former presidential economic adviser Michael Yang to help them fulfill the requirements and bag the PPE supplies contract.

This bolsters the senators belief that Pharmally has no financial capacity considering it only has a P625,000 paid-up capital.

Drilon also said he also wants to further scrutinize the income tax records of the top three officials of Pharmally before and after they acquired millions worth of luxury cars.

“I want to see copies of their income tax return from 2019 to 2020 so we would know if they have sufficient capabilities to buy such cars that amount to more than P60-million,” the senate minority chief said.

“If they didn’t earn in 2019, how come they can suddenly afford to buy a vehicle worth 60 million?” he pointed out.

It was last Friday’s hearing where it was disclosed that three Pharmally officials acquired a total of at least four luxury cars less than a year after the company bagged the multi-billion COVID-19 supplies contract.

Related Tags

Franklin Drilon DBM-PS COA Pharmally Pharmaceutical COVID-19 supplies fraud audit
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