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Manila Bulletin devider devider Plunder charges filed vs former immigration officers

Plunder charges filed vs former immigration officers

Published Mar 23, 2018 05:17 pm
By Czarina Ong
The plunder charges against former Bureau of
 Immigration (BI) Deputy Commissioners Al Argosino and Michael 
Robles, together with
 Asian Gaming
 Service Providers
 Association, Inc. (AGSPA) president Wenceslao Sombero Jr. have finally reached the Sandiganbayan today afternoon. Bureau of Immigration Deputy Commissioners Al Argosino (left) and Mike Robles, alleging that they were just framed, hold bundles of money amounting to P30 million, which they turned over to the Department of Justice for ‘safekeeping.’ They claimed that retired police general Wally Sombero, an intermediary for Chinese casino operator Jack Lam, had tried to bribe them with the money. (Jansen Romero | Manila Bulletin) Former Bureau of Immigration Deputy Commissioners Al Argosino (left) and Mike Robles (Jansen Romero | Manila Bulletin file photo) Argosino, Robles, and Sombero were charged for violating R.A. 7080
 or the act defining and penalizing plunder, as well as Section 3(e) of R.A. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, Article 210 of the Revised Penal Code or Bribery, and P.D. 46 — the decree punishing public officials for receiving gifts from private individuals. These charges are for their involvement in the extortion of P50 million from 1,316 arrested Chinese nationals who were violating Philippine immigration laws. In the charge sheets filed by Graft Investigation and Prosecution Officer III Lucielo Ramirez Jr, Sombero was accused of facilitating the deal for Argosino and Robles, who pocketed P50 million from Chinese gaming tycoon Jack Lam, also known as Lam Yin Lok, on November 27, 2016. In exchange for the money, they were to provide a "favor" for the release of the above mentioned Chinese nationals "who were arrested and detained at Fontana Leisure Park, Clark Field, Pampanga, for violating Philippine immigration laws," the charge sheet read. Meanwhile, the direct bribery and graft raps versus sacked BI Intelligence Chief
 Charles Calima 
Jr. were dismissed in an Ombudsman consolidated order dated November 23, 2017. Lam, on the other hand, was slapped with a violation of P.D. 46 for giving the P50 million. Argosino, Robles and Sombero have to pay P60,000 each for their provisional liberty, although no bail was posted for their plunder charge. The bail for graft is P30,000, the bail for bribery is P20,000, while the bail for P.D. 46 is P10,000. Meanwhile, Lam has to pay P10,000 for his provisional liberty.
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