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Senators’ bribery yarn raises Aquirre hackles

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JUSTICE Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Tuesday lashed back at Senator Trillanes IV for insinuating that he was involved in the alleged bribery by Chinese casino tycoon Jack Lam.

Aguirre denied taking any amount from the P50-million cash given by Lam’s camp to dismissed Bureau of Immigration deputy commissioners Al Argosino and Michael Robles.

“Why are these senators insisting that I was involved in that bribery? Is it because they could not believe that I turned down the offer because if they were in my place, they would have taken the money?” Aguirre said.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II

Aguirre also attacked Trillanes for raising the allegation only after he left the Senate hearing, calling this an act as cowardice.

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He added that Argosino and Robles and others involved in the controversy, including dismissed BI intelligence chief Charles Calima Jr. and former police chief superintendent Wally Sombero, who supposedly served as Lam’s middleman, had already said no bribe money reached him.

But Aguirre said Trillanes and Liberal Party senators were egging Argosino and Robles to link him to the bribery to get even for his prosecution of Senator Leila de Lima for her alleged role in the illegal drug trade inside the national penitentiary when she was still Justice secretary.

“They are offering the two deputy commissioners immunity in exchange for pinning me down,” Aguirre said.

But Senators Francis Pangilinan and Trillanes denied Aguirre’s accusations.

“Aguirre is being haunted by the truth. That’s why he is getting paranoid,” said Trillanes in a text message, adding that Aguirre should just stick to the issues.

Trillanes accused Aguirre of telling Argosino to deal with Lam’s group on his behalf even as the Justice chief claimed to have rejected the offer to protect Lam’s online gambling interests during a meeting in a hotel in Taguig City on Nov. 26, 2016.

The senator also asked how Aguirre knew about the alleged P50-million to P100-million bribe offer from Lam when no one had told him about it.

Pangilinan, on the other hand, reminded Aguirre that there was no such thing as “legislative immunity” under the rules of the Senate. 

“That info was foolishness and that’s not true. First, there’s no Senate rules giving immunity to those who testified before us so it’s clear there was no illegal way this can be done in the Senate,” Pangilinan said. With Macon Ramos-Araneta

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