Philippines senate enquiry concludes

Thursday saw the conclusion of the extensive Philippines Senate enquiry into the Jack Lam affair, in which members of the panel had to sift through a morass of bribery and corruption accusations and counter-accusations against senior government figures, foreign operator and gambling mogul Jack Lam and a so-called “facilitator” of an alleged P50 million bribery scandal, along with evidence from an extensive list of witnesses (see previous reports).

Summing up the panel’s conclusions, Senator Richard Gordon appeared to focus on former BI associate commissioners Michael Robles and Al Argosino and their top officials Jaime Morente and Charles Calima, recommending that they should face charges of extortion…but he appeared to clear Secretary for Justice Vitaliano Aguirre, gambling mogul Jack Lam and even the professed middle-man Wally Sombero.

However, he did to some extent qualify that by warning that Lam may face a Department of Labour and Employment investigation over his illegal employment of Chinese nationals in the Clark Freeport.

Read the full report here: http://www.rappler.com/nation/163732-gordon-clears-aguirre-jack-lam-wally-sombero