After finally catching Pharmally executives Mohit and Twinkle Dargani to compel them to cooperate with its inquiry into pandemic supply contracts, Senate probers are now zeroing in on the identities of the parties who abetted the Dargani siblings in their apparent attempt to escape abroad.
Sen. Richard J. Gordon, chairman of the investigating Senate Blue Ribbon Committee (BRC), on Monday wrote Isagani Lukban, president of Global Aviation Corp., based in Pasay City, hours after he and his peers commended the Senate Sergeant at Arms for successfully netting the Darganis at the Davao City International Airport (DIA).
They had arrived at DIA on a chartered Learjet, from Singapore, and were about to fly out to Kuala Lumpur when the Office of Senate Sergeant-at-Arms (OSAA), acting on a tip from immigration officials, pounced on them.
The OSAA took them to the Senate building in Pasay City and where they are now under detention.
In his letter to Lukban, Gordon asked the chief of Global Aviation to immediately provide Senate probers “details and copies of the flight request, manifest, contracts or forms showing how much, who contracted, who paid, and who signed documents related to this travel, and all circumstances related to this flight information.”
Gordon then provided Lukban with the details of the plane and flight they were interested in:
• Operator—Seletar Jet Charter PTE Ltd
• Aircraft type—Learjet 60
• Registry Number VH-AND
• Purpose of Flight: Private, non-revenue
• Itinerary—Seletar-Davao-KL, leaving Seletar Sunday Nov. 14, arriving Davao at 3:30 p.m.; then leaving Davao for KL at 4:30 p.m. Sunday.
“Kindly e-mail the requested info as soon as possible to the BRC secretariat,” Gordon asked Lukban.
Mohit Dargani, corporate secretary and treasurer of Pharmally Pharmaceuticals Corp., and his sister Twinkle, its president, were cited in contempt and ordered arrested for refusing to provide financial documents of their controversial company.
Pharmally is a low-capital (P625,000) start-up that bagged an estimated P10 billion of the P42-billion pandemic supply contracts managed by the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM), to which the Department of Health (DOH) outsourced its bidding chores.
Pharmally is believed to have been heavily funded by Davao-based businessman Michael Yang, former economic adviser and friend of President Duterte, but Yang denied this and once told senators his only role was introducing Pharmally officials to certain Chinese suppliers.
The DOH use of P62 billion in pandemic funds—including the P42 billion transferred to PS-DBM—was earlier flagged by the Commission on Audit, sparking the BRC investigation that has sent President Duterte repeatedly attacking Gordon and other senators.