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Criminal charges to be filed in court over P4.16B 'irregular' purchases of Covid-19 test kits in 2020

Philippines | National

Criminal charges to be filed in court over P4.16B 'irregular' purchases of Covid-19 test kits in 2020

By Czarina Nicole Ong Ki

Criminal charges are set to be filed in court against former Department of Budget and Management Undersecretary Lloyd Christopher A. Lao, Overall Deputy Ombudsman Warren Rex H. Liong, Procurement Management Officer Paul Jasper V. De Guzman, and six other persons for their involvement in the alleged irregular purchases of P4.165 billion worth of Covid-19 test kits from Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation in 2020.

Also to be charged criminally by the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) before the Sandiganbayan are Pharmally executives Twinkle Dargani, president; Mohit Dargani, treasurer and secretary; Linconn Ong, director; Justine Garado, director; Huang Tzu Yen, board member; and Lin Weixiong, financial manager.

In the 14-page order of the OMB signed by Ombudsman Samuel R. Martires, the motion for reconsideration filed by Lao was denied as it affirmed that "Pharmally's funds came from its irregular transactions with Procument Service of DBM (PS-DBM)."

"Under these circumstances, a reasonable mind could not be faulted from entertaining a well-grounded belief that Lin was deeply involved in the irregular scheme, conspiring with all other officials of PS-DBM and Pharmally," the order stated.

The officials reportedly bought 8,000 units of BGI Real Time Fluorescent RT-PCR Kits priced at P600 million on April 23, 2020. The purchase was covered by Purchase Order No. PO20-00210-CSE.

The next purchase for 2,000 units of A*Star Fortitude RT-PCR Test Kits priced at P688 million covered by PO No. PO20-00211-CSE. Lastly, 41,400 units of BGI Real Time Fluorescent RT-PCR Kits were purchased on June 9, 2020 for P2,877,300,000 covered by PO No. PO20-00286-CSE.

Related Tags

PS-DBM Christopher Lao Pharmally Pharmaceutical Ombudsman Samuel Martires graft charges Ombudsman graft Pharmally Pharmally scandal pharmally officials

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