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Argosino, Robles each post P60,000 bail in P50-M bribery scandal case


Former Immigration deputy commissioners Al Argosino and Michael Robles on Tuesday posted their respective bail bonds at the Sandiganbayan to secure their provisional liberty.

Argosino and Robles each paid the P60,000 bail at the Sixth Division, one working day after it was re-raffled to the division following the recusal of Fourth Division chairperson Associate Justice Alex Quiroz.

 

 

The bail is for one count each of violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, direct bribery, and violation of Presidential Decree No. 46 which punishes public officials for receiving gifts from private individuals.

Argosino and Robles also face the non-bailable offense of plunder. However, the Sandiganbayan has yet to find probable cause in holding them for trial and issue their respective arrest warrants.

Retired police officer Wally Sombero is their co-accused in the plunder case. He has filed a quashal motion at the Sandiganbayan, saying there is no “main plunderer” on the charge of the Ombudsman prosecutors.

Chinese casino mogul Jack Lam, meanwhile, faces one count of violation of PD 46.

Sombero, then-president of Asian Gaming Service Provider Association Inc., allegedly served as the middleman of Lam when he delivered P50 million to Argosino and Robles at the City of Dreams Manila in Parañaque City on November 27, 2016.

The money was in exchange for assistance in the release of 1,316 illegal Chinese workers at Fontana Leisure Parks and Casino in Clark, Pampanga.

In its indictment order, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales pointed to Argosino as the main plunderer when he demanded P100 million from Lam.

“It bears emphasis that Argosino is the main plunderer being the one who demanded for the total sum of P100 million received through a series of two separate overt criminal acts and took ownership of a total of P50 million at the City of Dreams after asking for Robles’ company and help (carrying and keeping two paper bags of money) and thereafter giving shares of the loot to Sombero and Calima,” Morales said. —KG, GMA News

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