TWO OFFICIALS of a company being investigated for allegedly anomalous contracts for pandemic supplies are now under Senate custody after they were caught Sunday afternoon at the Davao International Airport, where they were supposed to take a private flight to Malaysia.
Pharmally Pharmaceuticals Corp. President Twinkle Dargani and her brother, Pharmally Corporate Secretary Mohit Dargani, are now detained at the Senate following their arrest by members of the Office of the Senate Sergeant-At-Arms (OSAA) while already on board a private plane bound for Kuala Lumpur.
Senator Ana Theresia “Risa” N. Hontiveros-Baraquel said at the Pandesal forum Monday that she expects the Darganis to be more forthright in their testimonies now that they are under Senate custody.
“In the past few weeks, the Senate has been scouring possible hideouts of the Darganis after they were cited in contempt and ordered to be arrested for refusing to submit documents the Senate needed in its investigation,” Senator Richard J. Gordon, Sr. who chairs the blue ribbon committee, said in a statement Monday.
“We knew they were hatching their grand escape via the back door,” he added.
Mr. Gordon on Monday also sent a letter to Globan Aviation Corp. to request details and copies of the flight contracts showing the price, contractor, payer, and signatory of the documents related to the Darganis’ supposed flight to Malaysia.
Ms. Hontiveros also said during the forum that the final committee report will likely include recommendations to sue former budget procurement executive Lloyd C. Lao, former Presidential economic adviser Michael Yang, and other Pharmally officials.
“The foreign officials of Pharmally, the elder and younger Huang, are already subject to standing warrants of arrest in Singapore and will probably be recommended for charges here in the Philippines with regards in particular to violations of the new procurement law and the tax code,” she added. — Alyssa Nicole O. Tan
