Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has greenlight the seizure of Jack Lam’ assets as payment for the alleged unpaid taxes of the Macau gambling tycoon.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that Duterte’s first order to his men – since his arrival from state visits to Singapore and Cambodia – was to recover the taxes that Lam owes for illegally operating an online gaming facility at Fontana Leisure Parks and Casino in Clark, Pampanga.
It would be recalled that immigration authorities raided the facility last month and arrested more than 1,300 illegal Chinese workers in the gambling establishment.
Quoting Internal Revenue Commissioner Cesar Dulay, the visibly irked Philippine President pointed out that “we have been cheated on for so long” by Lam.
“We have not been able to determine how much we lost… I am sequestering, ordering the sequestering of his properties and maybe I can get as much as I want,” he said. “You know they were playing here. [For bets collected here], they pay taxes, but for the [bets placed] outside of the Philippines, that is something else.”
Duterte admitted getting “pissed off” when he learned that Lam bragged about bribing bribing people in the government, “as if everybody is [in his] pocket.”
“So I called the [National Bureau of Investigation] and I said, ‘Arrest him because he was into corruption. Arrest him and detain him in the most stinky prison,’” he said.
As the bribery scandal over Lam’s flight deepens, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguire II said that he is ready to step down from his post due to the involvement of two top officials of the Bureau of Immigration.
The DOJ chief quickly clarified that he believes he has not done any wrong in handling the Lam issue, according to The Philippine Star
“I have no problem in resigning or being out of the government,” Aguirre said. “If the President loses even a single bit of trust and confidence in me, I will not insist on clinging on to this position. I will not lose a single night’s sleep if I lose this position.”
