Philippines
The Manila Times – Mar 29
PLUNDER cases have been filed against former Bureau of Immigration (BI) deputy commissioners Al Argosino and Michael Robles, as well as retired police general Wenceslao Sombero Jr., for allegedly receiving bribe money from Macau tycoon Jack Lam in 2016 in exchange for the release of illegal Chinese workers.
The Sandiganbayan’s Fourth Division will handle the plunder, graft and bribery cases filed by the Office of the Ombudsman against Argosino, Robles, Sombero and Lam, also known as Lam Yin Lok.
In the charge sheet, the Ombudsman said that on November 27, 2016, Argosino, Robles and Sombero illegally tained P50 million “through a series or combination of overt or criminal acts, or similar schemes or means.”
According to the charge sheet, the cash payment, which totaled P50 million — the threshold amount for plunder — was allegedly delivered to and received by Argosino and Robles in two instances at City of Dreams Manila in Parañaque City, as follows: P20 million at about 2 a.m. on November 27, 2016 and P30 million at about 5:45 a.m. of the same day.
The amount, the Ombudsman alleged, was handed by Sombero. No bail was recommended by the Ombudsman in the plunder case.
In the charge sheet accusing Argosino, Robles, and Sombero of graft and bribery in violation of Republic Act 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act), the Ombudsman alleged that the former immigration officials, in conspiracy with Sombero who was president of Asian Gaming Service Provider Association, Inc., demanded and received P50 million from Lam.
This was to facilitate the release of 1,316 Chinese arrested and detained at Fontana Leisure Park in Clark Field, Pampanga on November 24, 2016.
The Ombudsman recommended P30,000 bail for each accused in the graft case and P20,000 bail for each accused in the bribery case.
In the case wherein Argosino, Robles, Sombero, and Lam were accused of violating a presidential decree on gifts, the Ombudsman recommended P10,000 bail for each accused.
The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee had recommended the filing of plunder and other graft-related charges against the two former immigration officials in connection with the P50 million bribery-extortion scandal in 2016.
Two days after the raid, Lam, together with Sombero and two interpreters, met with Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre 2nd inside the Shangri-La hotel at Bonifacio Global City in Taguig to discuss the cases of the Chinese workers.
Unknown to Aguirre, Argosino had a discussion with Sombero after the meeting. Argosino and Robles met Sombero in a restaurant at City of Dreams on November 26. It was during that meeting, which stretched past midnight, that Sombero gave several paper bags believed to have contained cash.
Duterte fired Argosino and Robles, his fraternity brothers at San Beda law school’s Lex Talionis fraternity, in December 2016.
