The corporate treasurer and secretary of Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation has applied as Michael Yang’s special assistant at the Office of Presidential Economic Adviser.
During the continuation of the Senate blue ribbon panel’s probe into the alleged overpriced COVID-19 supplies, Senator Risa Hontiveros asked Pharmally official Mohit Dargani if he had worked for the government.
She posed the question as she presented a screenshot of Dargani’s LinkedIn profile, where the businessman wrote that he was a “Special Assistant at the Office of the Presidential Economic Adviser.”
“Mayroon po tayong screenshot ng LinkedIn page ninyo (We have a screenshot of your LinkedIn page). Ayan po (There we can see), special assistant at the Office of the Presidential Economic Adviser…So you, Mr. Dargani both worked for Michael Yang,” Hontiveros said.
Dargani denied that he worked for the government, but he admitted that he had applied for the special assistant position in Yang’s office.
“I think at that time…I tried…I seek an opportunity from Mr. Ong if I can work with their firm but because I am not a Chinese and I don’t really communicate with their bosses, Mr. Yang, Mr. Ong advised me that I cannot work in that said office,” Dargani said.
He was referring to Linconn Ong, the Pharmally director who, Hontiveros said, also worked for Yang.
According to the senator, Ong served as Yang’s translator in 2017, the year when the latter had a meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte and other Pharmally officials.
The lawmaker pressed Dargani to explain why he labeled himself as a special assistant in Yang’s office, but the Pharmally official said he only “assumed” that he got the position.
“I tried to apply there, and it was temporarily that I assumed that I was working there. I took that down eventually,” Dargani said.
Moreover, the Senate blue ribbon committee has ordered the issuance of subpoena on the income tax return (ITR) of Dargani, Ong, other Pharmally executives, Lin Wei Xiong, and Rose Nono Lin.
Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the panel, also moved to subpoena documents from the Bureau of Customs (BOC) which are related to the luxury cars purchased by the Pharmally officials. The senator wanted to determine whether the tax for the vehicles were paid or not.
He said he will discuss this in an executive session.
Gordon further asked Dargani the details on the procurement of their luxury cars.
According to Dargani, the Lamborghini is a second-hand car which he bought as gift to her sister, Twinkle, the president of Pharmally.
He bought it from a Korean national who posted the car’s sale on Facebook.
Gordon then asked Dargani to identify the seller. However, the latter cannot recall the name of the Korean national who sold him the car.
The deed of sale, which contains the name of the seller, was also with the Korean national. Dargani said the document was not with him as they are processing the transfer of ownership with the Land Transportation Office.
Last week, Gordon disclosed that the firm’s corporate secretary, Mohit Dargani, acquired a Porsche 911 Turbo S worth P8.5 million while Twinkle Dargani, Pharmally’s president, obtained a Lamborghini Urus worth P13 million.
Gordon further revealed that Linconn Ong, director of Pharmally, acquired a Lexus RCF worth P5.9 million, a Porsche Cayenne VR6 with an estimated amount of P6.35 to P8.85 million, and a Porsche Carrera 4S worth P13.5 million.
Pharmally secured more than P8 billion worth of government contracts for the procurement of personal protective equipment (PPEs), which were believed to be overpriced.
The Senate blue ribbon committee already requested the Anti-Money Laundering Council to inspect the bank records of Pharmally as lawmakers questioned how the firm bagged government contracts worth billions of pesos, with only a paid up capital of P650,000.—AOL, GMA News
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Source: Pinoy Hub News
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