A group who calls itself Filipino Alliance for Transparency and Empowerment on Thursday filed a plunder case before the Office of the Ombudsman against Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office chairman Irineo “Ayung” Maliksi in connection with the controversy over the operation of the government-sponsored small-town lottery game.
“The crux of the controversy in this complaint is the issuance of a moratorium directly by respondent sometime in June of 2015, which implemented for the stoppage of the Small Town Lottery operations and the non-approval of the pending applications for franchise of the said STL,” FATE president Jennifer S. Castro said.
Castro said the two-month stoppage had incurred PCSO a loss of P15 billion.
Her group had earlier sued Maliksi for alleged 30 ghost consultants and for allegedly giving unwarranted favor in the amount of P2.151 million to cover the medical expenses of a PCSO driver.
Maliksi could not be reached for comment.
In the plunder case, Castro said Maliksi issued the moratorium without the consent of the Board of Directors. The board later overruled this.
“The moratorium was issued based on the allegation that the revenues brought in by STL operators in PCSO are incorrect or lacking. This, aside from the fact that this is just being use as a front for jueteng.”
In his previous statements to the media, Maliksi explained he issued the moratorium based on results of the investigation of the National Bureau of Investigation alleging that STL was being used as front by jueteng operators.
“However, the investigation that Maliksi mentions has been denied by the NBI,” Castro said.