Duterte crackdown continues
Andrea Domingo, chairwoman of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. and an appointee of President Rodrigo Duterte, has officially denied involvement in a bribery scandal that implicated former Philippines Police Superintendent Wally Sombero and fugitive junket owner Jack Lam.
Lam, who runs the Chinese junket operation Jimei Group, fled the Philippines last December after an alleged illegal online casino was discovered at his Fontana Leisure Parks and Casino in Clark Freeport, Pampanga.
According to the Asia Gaming Brief, in a Senate hearing in the matter Domingo said she knows Lam but was never offered a bribe after the online gaming operation was discovered. Lam reportedly approached several government officials in an attempt to secure the freedom of more than 1,000 Chinese nationals arrested at the alleged illicit casino.
Domingo said she met Lam in her office to negotiate his preferential tax rate, AGB reported. While other casinos operating in Clark were required to pay 10 percent of gross revenues, Lam paid just 1 percent on all but high-roller revenues. “These are not his debts but foregone revenues for the government because he has a contract that I think is very onerous to the government,” Domingo said in her testimony. “There is a contract but we believe it is not a level playing field. So we are appealing to his fairness since he has earned a lot from the Philippines already.”
According to GGRAsia, the country is now considering seizing Lam’s casino assets to cover “unremitted revenue” said to be owed to the government. Lam’s Fontana Casino and Fort Ilocandia Hotel and Casino in Laoag City were shuttered after the purported online casinos were found.
Domingo told senators that Lam owes the regulatory body at least PHP13.9 billion (US$278.4 million) in “total liabilities.”
“If Lam is unable to pay off, the government will initiate sequestration proceedings,” Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre senators. Aguirre is the one who alleges that Domingo was approached with a bribery offer. He says he also was approached and declined the offer.
The Senate committee has threatened to cancel the passport of retired Police Superintendent Wally Sombero, who is alleged to have acted as Lam’s intermediary. Sombero, who is believed to have traveled to Canada, was cited for contempt for not appearing.
The Frontera News reports that Duterte’s crackdown on illegal online gaming continues. On February 2 he issued an executive order directing law enforcement agencies to ramp up the offensive. “The license to operate online gambling granted to qualified operators shall not be assigned, shared, leased, transferred, sold or encumbered to any other party,” the order said.
