Stumped Pimentel wants to take up Faeldon’s dropped raps with Aguirre

Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III is so puzzled why the Department of Justice cleared former Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon of the charges related to the smuggling of P6.5 billion worth of shabu that he wants to take the matter up with his party mate Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre.

Pimentel said he would also planned to take up the DOJ dismissing the charges against executives of the Philippine Remittance Service Inc., which figured prominently in the alleged laundering in the country of millions of dollars hacked from the Bangladesh government's bank account in New York.

"Siguro kausapin ko na lang si Secretary Aguirre for an explanation because hes also a party-mate no. Una sa lahat, number one, ito nga, bakit hindi kasama si Feldon and many of the other subordinates of Faeldon diba?" Pimentel said.

"Even yung sa Bangladesh money fraud I think pati yung PhilRem hindi nila kinasuhan, I need to know why...so medyo madami dami na 'tong kailangan nating itanong kay Secretary Aguirre," he added.

The DOJ on Wednesday slapped criminal charges against alleged customs fixer Mark Taguba, businessman Kenneth Dong and seven other individuals linked to the P6.4-billion shabu shipment smuggled from China in May, while dismissing charges against ex-Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon.

It also dismissed the charges filed by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) against several former and current BOC officials including Faeldon; National Bureau of Investigation-Anti Organized Transnational Crimes Division (NBI-AOTCD) officers; corporate officers of Hong Fei Logistics; and warehouse owner Emily Anoche Dee and her brother Fidel Anoche Dee.

In a separate interview, Pimentel said he would ask Aguirre to "formally or informally" explain their basis for dropping the charges.

"Kung walang sinama na Customs doon... medyo malabo, how could such a big shipment 600 plus kilos of shabu and in an organized way malusot sa Customs na walang involvement ang Customs? So there must be somebody there from the inside who facilitated the release of the shipment," Pimentel told reporters.

The DOJ has indicted in court dismissed Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) bank manager Maia Deguito in connection with the $81 million in funds stolen by hackers from Bangladesh's bank account last year.

However, it found no basis to indict before the Makati regional trial court Philrem owner-spouses Salud Bautista and Michael “Concon” Bautista and PhilRem Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer Anthony Pelejo for violations of the anti-money laundering law.

The Senate President said that he will also meet with fellow Senators within the day to find out their sentiments as well.

Faeldon who is indefinitely detained at the Senate after continuously refusing to appear in the blue ribbon committee investigation into the shabu shipment can only be "set free" once he agrees to appear in the said probe.

"You can be set free by the Senate if you purge yourself of the contempt that you committed, or cleansed yourself of it," Pimentel said. —NB, GMA News