Only the naive will believe that it’s impossible to steal P67 billion. Documents, not bluster, can disprove allegations of President Duterte’s pandemic misspending. Telling the independent Commission on Audit to stop publishing its findings only heightens suspicion. Advising against resigning concentrates the fire on the health secretary.
Grand thefts in government abound. Serialized in this column in 2003 was the string of sleaze behind the $412-million construction of NAIA Terminal-3. In 2004 I exposed the P302-million plunder by the Armed Forces comptroller-general. I bared in 2007 the attempted national broadband network-ZTE scam, which had a P10-billion kickback, larger than the P7-billion project cost. Hearings on the P105-million police chopper scam of 2009 are wrapping up.
There were the P728-million ghost fertilizer scam of 2004 and the P10-billion pork barrel scam of 2013. Philippine firms participated in the $1-billion Bangladesh Bank cyber-heist of 2016. The ombudsman is investigating PhilHealth’s P15-billion overpayments in 2020. In the Guinness Book of World Records is Ferdinand Marcos’ plunder of $10 billion from 1972-1986.
On its 25th year in 2019, Transparency International compiled probes of “25 Corruption Scandals that Shook the World:”
(1) Siemens, Germany – Discovered in 2006 were $1.4 billion in bribes by the conglomerate to several governments, booked as tax-exempt “useful expenses,” for infrastructure contracts.
(2) Abacha, Nigeria – By his death in 1998, General Sani Abacha had pillaged $5 billion in five years from the Central Bank.
(3) Fujimori, Peru – During his presidency, Alberto Fujimori embezzled $600 million mostly in un-audited intelligence funds.
(4) Kadyrov, Chechnya – President Ramzan Kadyrov exacted from all wage earners up to $864 million a year ostensibly for homes and mosques, but also built private palaces and threw lavish parties.
(5) Ben Ali, Tunisia – From 1987 to 2011 president Ben Ali put up 220 family monopolies to amass $13 billion.
(6) Yanukovych, Ukraine – A golf course, ostrich farm, private zoo and a full-sized Spanish galleon were among the attractions at president Viktor Yanukovych’s 137-hectare estate, part of his $40 billion loot.
(7) Martinelli, Panama – While president from 2009-2014, Ricardo Martinelli took kickbacks from public contracts, including for school children’s meals and bags.
(8) 1MDB, Malaysia – Former prime minister Najib Razak is on trial for pocketing more than $4 billion from the development fund that he chaired.
(9) Russian-Moldovan Laundromat – Over $80 billion in public funds have been siphoned off and laundered in Moldova into Russian officials’ bank accounts in Europe.
(10) Gürtel, Spain – Tycoon Francisco Correa, alias Gürtel, funnelled bribes to the ruling party, even the office of the president, for dirty public deals.
(11) Venezuela – South America’s richest country 20 years ago, Venezuela is in political and humanitarian crisis after the plunder of the state-owned oil company.
(12) Panama Papers – Leaked files of the Mossack Fonseca law firm listed 214,000 shell companies of money-launderers, including 140 politicians and 12 leaders of foreign governments.
(13) Maldives – Unearthed in 2016 were $1.5 billion in bribes, including to president Abdulla Yameen, for no-bidding leases of 50 islands and submerged coral lagoons.
(14) Obiang, Equatorial Guinea – Teodorín Obiang bragged in Instagram of luxury living, mansions, two dozen sports cars and Michael Jackson memorabilia, all purloined from Africa’s oil-rich country, as vice president to his president-father.
(15) Gupta, South Africa – The Gupta family amassed $7 billion from monopolies acquired by bribing president Jacob Zuma and children.
(16) Lebanon – In 2015 the country plunged into garbage crisis, filling its streets and beaches with trash, stench and water contamination, with the collapse of the rubbish disposal monopoly acquired through bribery.
(17) FIFA – In 2015 was exposed rampant racketeering and impunity in the Fedération Internationale de Football Association, tarnishing sports overseers.
(18) Myanmar – Environmental disasters kill thousands yearly due to mining by generals, cronies and drug lords; in 2014 alone $31 billion in jade stones were smuggled to China.
(19) Guatemala – A former president resigned due to corruption investigations, but present president Jimmy Morales blocked the probe when he too was linked.
(20) Turkey – President Recep Tayyip Erdogan removed or jailed hundreds of police, prosecutors and judges for investigating the “gas for gold” racket of the ruling Justice and Development Party.
(21) Azerbaijan – Officials bribed European delegates $3 billion to ignore the country’s human rights violations and rigged elections.
(22) Paradise Papers – In 2017 records of Bermuda law firm Appleby leaked secret deposits of 120 politicians, royals, oligarchs and fraudsters, plus bribes from Glencore to Congo president Joseph Kabila.
(23) Operation Lava Jato – Investigation of $1-billion sleaze in Brazil’s oil giant Petrobras exposed dirty money, foreign bribery and illicit political financing.
(24) The Troika – Leaked data from Troika Dialog, once Russia’s largest private investment bank, revealed that half of Russia’s wealth is stashed in offshore tax havens.
(25) Babiš, Czech Republic – In 2019 the European Commission discovered that $19 million in EU agricultural subsidies went to a private company of prime minister Andrej Babiš.
Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying
Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying
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