Senate panel close to having Pharmally exec as witness – Gordon
Members of the Office of the Sergeant-At-Arms escort Pharmally Pharmaceuticals Corp. executive Linconn Ong inside the Senate building Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021. The Senate blue ribbon committee cited Ong for contempt and ordered him for evading questions during the Sept. 10 hybrid inquiry on the 2020 Commission on Audit report and other issues related to budget use of the Department of Health (DOH), especially its expenditures related to the fight against COVID-19. (Photo from the Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)
MANILA, Philippines — Pharmally Pharmaceuticals Corp director Linconn Ong could soon turn into a state witness to shed light on the alleged irregularities involving the company.
“We’re close to that,” Gordon, speaking in Filipino, said in an interview at AM radio station DWIZ on Saturday when asked if Ong could be the potential witness.
The Senate blue ribbon committee, which Gordon chairs, ordered the transfer of Ong from the Senate, where he was first detained, to the Pasay City Jail for refusing to disclose the amount the firm borrowed from Michael Yang, a former presidential economic adviser.
READ: Senate panel orders transfer of Pharmally exec to city jail
Gordon did not confirm when asked whether Ong was still detained on the Senate or already transferred to the Pasay City Jail.
He said he believed there was a threat to Ong’s life.
“Yes, Michael Yang is surely very angry at them [witnesses]. They implicated him,” Gordon added.
Yang lent money to Pharmally so the company could finance its deals, according to the company president, Huang Tzu Yen.
Yang denied this, insisting that it was his friends, not him, who funded Pharmally.
The company has been the focus of Senate hearings due to alleged anomalies in its multibillion-peso contracts to supply the government with pandemic medical supplies.
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