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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider New York-based bank willing to cooperate in Senate's probe into PAGCOR's third party auditor

New York-based bank willing to cooperate in Senate's probe into PAGCOR's third party auditor

Published Feb 12, 2023 04:13 pm

A New York-based commercial bank has expressed willingness to cooperate with a Senate panel investigating the Philippine Amusement Gaming Corp.’s (PAGCOR) alleged anomalous contract with a third party auditor for Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs).

In a letter to Janice Godornes, PAGCOR’s assistant vice president for legal services, Govind Srivastava and Balwinder Kaur, legal representatives of Soleil Chartered Bank (SCB) stated that SCB is willing to assist in the conduct of investigation regarding PAGCOR’s 10-year, P6-billion contract with Global ComRCI.

Attached to the letter, is a certification issued by the SCB formally denying it has issued a bank certification to Global ComRCI submitted to PAGCOR and which has been the subject of a Senate investigation on POGOs.

SCB, in its letter to Godornes, reiterated it did not issue any certification to Global ComRCI, calling it a “blatant forgery that has smeared the good name of SCB as being involved with an entity that is not its client and with whom it has no actual relation to.”

“While we are ready and able to comply with whatever is necessary in the conduct of your investigation on the matter, I regret that we have had a less than satisfactory sentiment towards the fact that we have been dragged into this mess,” SCB’s representatives said.

“The spurious bank certification was not issued by SCB. It is a fake and forgery making use of SCB’s upright reputation as an international trade finance institution to legitimize contrived machinations that entity has in store,” they pointed out.

“We are perplexed by the audacity of the actions of whoever has committed this forgery and trust that this matter will be resolved expediently so as to avoid any further damage to SCB’s credibility and repute,” SCB also stated.

SCB is also considering filing civil and criminal suits against Global ComRCI.

At least two senators, Sherwin Gatchalian and Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III have filed resolutions calling on the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee to conduct a separate investigation on the controversies surrounding the POGO industry, this time focusing on the alleged anomalous contract between Global ComRCI and PAGCOR.

Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, particularly grilled the state gaming regulator on Global ComRCI’s compliance with the P1-billion capital requirement to qualify for the P6-billion contract with PAGCOR.

Related Tags

POGOs Senate probe Pagcor third party auditor Global ComRCI Soleil Chartered Bank
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