Accountant received only P4k payment from Pharmally

The external auditor of Pharmally Pharmaceutical Company bared on Thursday that she only received a P4,000 salary after working for the firm.

During the 10th Senate hearing into the alleged overpriced COVID-19 supplies, Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the Senate blue ribbon panel, asked Pharmally's external auditor Iluminada Sebial about her pay.

"Magkano po ang sweldo sa inyo? One time lang kamo? (How much do you earn? You said it's only one-time),"  Gordon asked.

"P4,000 po," Sebial answered.

Gordon then felt sorry for the certified public accountant for gaining a measly P4,000 payment.

"I really sympathize. Sorry, maiipit kayo dito. Sana makatulong na kayo, kung maaari. Ni hindi kayo kilala ng presidente niyo na si (Pharmally president) Twinkle (Dargani)," he said.

(I'm sorry you had to be included here. I hope you can help us, if you can. Twinkle, your president, does not even know you.)

Gordon even asked Dargani if she knew Sebial, to which the Pharmally president responded: "No, I don’t sir."

Sebial has been warned in previous Senate hearings that she could lose her license over "inexcusable negligence" in examining Pharmally's financial statements.

Asked if Pharmally fed her the financial statements, she responded that she examined the financial statements, but she did not scrutinize the details.

Sebial said she tried to get a copy of the documents being asked by the seantors but Pharmally refused to give it to her.

“Kasi ako nag-audit po one time lang po tapos ngayon na naghihingi ako ng mga documents, ayaw na po nila magbigay,” she said.

(I just audited their accounts once and now that I am asking for the documents, they don’t want to give it to me.)

The Blue Ribbon panel then ordered the issuance of a subpoena against Pharmally chief accountant Jeff Mariano and documents including:

• Deeds of donation on P33 million donations by Pharmally
• Documents to support the sales of P7,485,401,046
• Documents to support the cost of sales of P7,092,274,180
• Documents on the assets in foreign currency, which generated and realized foreign exchange gains of P63,232,031.

—AOL, GMA News