35 of 50 accused plead not guilty; others refused to enter plea
MANILA — A key whistleblower in the Pastillas scam has now been dropped as one of the accused in the graft case before the Sandiganbayan.
This, after the anti-graft court on Friday granted the prosecution’s motion to amend the information or criminal charge, removing the name of Jeffrey Dale Ignacio from the list of accused.
JUST IN: Sandiganbayan admits amended information dropping Jeffrey Dale Ignacio, whistleblower in Pastillas scam, from graft charge. He was earlier granted immunity by the Ombudsman. Defense counsels argued for an hour opposing the amended information. pic.twitter.com/l0AMkeii0N
— Mike Navallo (@mikenavallo) September 9, 2022
Ignacio has been granted immunity by the Office of the Ombudsman, according to statements from the prosecution and defense during the hearing.
Ignacio is set to testify against 50 individuals engaged in a bribery scheme to bypass Immigration procedures from 2017 to 2020.
Under the scheme, around 143 mostly Chinese foreigners entered the Philippines as tourists and later worked for Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGO) hubs, each paying immigration personnel around P10,000.
In his testimony before the Senate in October 2020, Ignacio tagged former Immigration deputy commissioner Marc Red Mariñas as one of the masterminds of the scheme.
Mariñas allegedly claimed to have a contact at the Office of the Ombudsman who could help them in the probe they were facing.
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