JUSTICE Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Sunday promised a full investigation following the relief of two Bureau of Immigration (BI) officers who allegedly tampered with official records to make it appear that German payments company Wirecard AG’s Chief Operating Officer Jan Marsalek entered the country on June 23 and left a day after.
However, Guevarra said the BI is still determining whether other officers or officials may be involved or have knowledge of the illegal act.
Asked whether there were indications of bribery, Guevarra said the motives would be known once the BI is done with its investigation.
Guevarra expects the BI to submit the result of its investigation within the week.
“Two BI personnel were relieved. One stationed at MCIA [Mactan- Cebu International Airport], the other at the head office. We’ll find out if other persons were involved, as well as their motives, once the work of the BI fact-finding committee is completed,” the DOJ secretary said.
He added that the two BI personnel who encoded the “fictitious” entries will also face administrative sanctions. “Once the fact-finding report shows culpability, the appropriate sanctions will be imposed,” Guevarra explained.
The fictitious entries were discovered following a thorough check on the CCTV footage, airline manifests, and other records. This, following confusion arising from reports that Marsalek, said to have a Filipino wife, had entered the country, just as an international search focused on him over his role in the scandal. Wirecard AG claimed to have lost €1.9 billion or $2.1 billion due to fraud.
Guevarra said the BI supposed records showing that Marsalek left the country on June 24 was found to be contrived, “as there was no such flight to China as indicated in the database of the [BI].”
Guevarra earlier directed the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to investigate certain individuals linked in the scandal following reports that some Wirecard funds had entered the Philippines through two banks.
Guevarra said he instructed the NBI to coordinate with the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) despite an earlier pronouncement by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) that the missing money of Wirecard did not enter the Philippines.
Two of the country’s biggest banks—BDO Unibank Inc. (BDO) and Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI)—were being linked to the scandal.
However, BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno claimed that those behind the anomaly are only using the names of two banks to cover their tracks as initial reports showed none of the missing $2.1 billion entered the Philippine financial system.
Both banks have denied Wirecard was their client.
Lawyer Mark Tolentino, former assistant secretary for the Department of Transportation who was sacked by President Duterte in 2018, is also being linked to the scandal.
His law firm, M.K. Tolentino Law & Business Consultancy Office admitted opening and maintaining foreign currency deposit accounts with BDO and BPI, but did not name their clients citing absolute confidentiality required by the Foreign Currency Deposit Act.
Tolentino’s camp denied knowing or participating “in any alleged irregularity” involving Wirecard’s money.
Image credits: Sven Hoppe/picture-alliance/dpa via AP
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