Jack Lam ‘middleman’ clears Aguirre in BI bribery scandal

Justice Sec. Vitaliano Aguirre at the Senate Committee on Accountability of Public Officers and Investigations’ second public hearing on the Jack Lam alleged bribery scandal. INQUIRER PHOTO/LYN RILLON

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II disclosed during a Senate hearing on Tuesday that Jack Lam’s representative has cleared him of any involvement in the P50 million bribery scandal.

Aguirre informed the Senate blue ribbon committee that Wally Sombero Jr., Lam’s alleged middleman, sent a text message to him this Tuesday morning to clear his name on the controversy.

“Sir, for the record, I’m watching the hearing. The same words as General Calima texted you, I’m clearing you of any knowledge on this extortion scandal,” the justice secretary said, reading Sombero’s message.

Aguirre said Sombero also promised to do his best to attend the next hearing of the committee. The latter was invited twice to attend the Senate probe but was said to be under medical treatment in Singapore.

It was Sombero who allegedly gave P50 million to former Immigration Associate Commissioners Al Argosino and Michael Robles after meeting them in a restaurant in Parañaque City last November 27. The money was supposedly in exchange for the release of arrested workers of Lam in Clark, Pampanga.

But the day before he met with the two former immigration officials, Sombero also met with Aguirre at the Shangri-La hotel in Taguig to also discuss the same matter.

Aguirre repeatedly denied, however, any involvement in the bribery scandal as alleged by Senator Antonio Trillanes IV. JE/rga