Multiple officials linked to Lam bribery
Rodrigo Duterte, the president of the Philippines, continues to be a thorn in the side of the gaming industry in his country. Last week, he stepped up his attacks on junket king Jack Lam, and re-emphasized his bid to ban online gaming in the country.
Duterte has ordered the seizure of all gaming assets belonging to Lam, who was accused last month of bribery and economic sabotage.
Lam, the founder and principal shareholder of the Macau-based Jimei Group junket operation, operated in the Philippines at the Fontana Casino at Fontana Hot Spring Leisure Parks at Clark, and Fort Ilocandia Hotel and Casino in Laoag City, reports GGRAsia. The former property was the target of a raid last month that uncovered an alleged illegal online gambling ring. Both properties have since been shut down, and more than 1,300 Chinese workers were arrested. Lam has since fled the country; his whereabouts are currently unknown.
“We have been cheated for so long” by Lam, said Duterte. “We have not been able to determine how much we lost. I am sequestering his properties.”
Lam has also been implicated in the alleged $1 million bribery of three Bureau of Immigration officials. The money was reportedly paid to speed the release of the Chinese illegals arrested in November.
BI Associate Commissioners Al Argosino and Michael Robles and retired Police General Charles Calima have been dismissed due to the allegations; Duterte has promised they will “face the full force of the law.” Argosino and Robles, who have already turned over P30 million (US$600,700) of the P50 million they allegedly received from Lam or his associates, claim they were framed while conducting a covert investigation.
The Star newspaper reports that Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II is willing to step down because of the scandal; the Department of Justice oversees the BI.
“I have no problem in resigning or being out of the government,” Aguirre said. “Here in the DOJ, there could be corrupt officials, but I believe there are much more honest ones. If we are to fight corruption, we have to start from our own backyards.”
The rest of the money is still missing, Aguirre said. Argosino and Robles have accused retired Police Superintendent Wally Sombrero of acting as an intermediary between government officials and so-called “gambling lords” like Jack Lam. Sombero allegedly took P2 million (US$40,000) for his part in the bribery, while P18 million ($360,000) went to BI Intelligence Division chief Charles Calima Jr. Calima and his assistant Edward Chan have also been fired.
Also implicated in the case: BI Commissioner Jaime Morente and journalist Ramon Tulfo, who exposed the extortion in his newspaper column earlier this month. Sombero, Calima and Tulfo have all denied the allegations.
Argosino and Robles are laying low in the wake of the accusations. “We are now in hiding, because what we bumped into is no small syndicate,” Argosino said in a radio interview. “We just hope to be given protection.”
For iGaming, the news just got worse. Soon after taking office in June, Duterte said he would ban all online gaming in the Philippines, and in August shut down outlets of PhilWeb, which operates iGaming parlors across the country. Later, he said iGaming could be conducted if fully licensed and taxed, and avoided locations near schools and churches. But last week, in an address on the 2017 budget, Duterte was back to his old tricks.
“I am ordering the closure of all online gaming,” Duterte said in the speech, citing widespread corruption in the granting of iGaming licenses.
He ordered Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II to assemble a task force to investigate the operations of online gaming. There was no timetable set to eliminate iGaming from the Philippines, but the closure of iGaming would cost its regulator, the Philippines Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) more than P10 billion (US$200 million).
PAGCOR Chairwoman Andrea Domingo says her agency will try to replace that revenue by concentrating on bringing foreign high rollers to the nation’s casinos, some run by PAGCOR, but all that pay taxes to PAGCOR.
