Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 14) — The gaming regulator on Monday said it has tapped the Commission on Audit (COA) to audit its licensed Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) after terminating its contract with its previous “fraudulent” third party auditor.
Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) chief Alejandro Tengco said the agency immediately requested state auditors to take over auditing of POGOs right after it cut its contract with third party auditor Global ComRCI.Yes, tinerminate na namin ang ₱5.8-billion contract at ang COA na ang kasalukuyang nag-audit ng overseas gaming licensees,” he said during the national budget deliberations in the House of Representatives.
[Translation: Yes, we terminated the ₱5.8-billion contract and COA is currently auditing our overseas gaming licensees.]
In March, the gaming regulator announced the termination of its contract with Global ComRCI, which was earlier flagged by lawmakers as questionable.
Nakita po namin na fraudulent po ‘yong pagkaka-award ng PAGCOR sa kompanyang Global ComRCI,” Tengco said.[Translation: We saw that PAGCOR’s award to the company Global ComRCI was fraudulent.]The agency chief said that the company’s submitted bank certification during the bidding process was supposed to be issued by Soleil, a New York-based international investment bank.PAGCOR’s investigation later found that the bank never issued the certification and Global ComRCI did not have an existing account.
Tengco said this was enough ground to begin the process of terminating the contract with the company.
Tengco said they have also sought help from the Office of the Solicitor General to claim back the ₱1-billion worth of funds offered by PAGCOR’s previous management to the auditors who processed the contract.
Missing collectibles
During the meeting, Minority Floor leader Rep. Marcelino Libanan also sought clarification on the ₱2.2 billion receivable from a POGO that closed during the previous administration — an amount flagged by COA in 2022.Tengco replied that there is “no way to collect” the remaining receivable as the operator closed shop during the pandemic.I had an exit conference with COA about a month ago, and I made a manifestation to the supervisor of COA in PAGCOR and there is no way we can collect that said P2 billion anymore,” the PAGCOR chief said.He said the team deployed to look into the case of the POGO firm found that all individuals involved are foreign nationals who already left the country.Tengco added that the licensee only operated for eight months in the country.
Libanan then asked the agency for its proposed solutions to avoid a repeat of the incident.
To this, Tengco reiterated that PAGCOR has been implementing since Aug. 1 a new framework requiring players in the offshore gaming industry to reapply for their licenses until Sept. 17.
