Trial against ex-DOH chief over P41B pandemic fund transfer starts

National

THE Sandiganbayan has started the trial of two former high-ranking government officials charged with graft charges.

Former Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and former budget official Lloyd Christopher Lao were linked to supposed anomalies involving the transfer of P41.46 billion from the Department of Health to the Department of Budget and Management at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Posecutors intend to call on state auditors to testify regarding the failure to deliver pandemic supplies that were supposedly purchased with these massive funds.

Government auditors had already raised alarms about "deficiencies" in 2020 on how over P67 billion of pandemic response money was managed, specifically citing the lack of proper documentation and formal agreements for the P41.46-billion transfer.

In a report by Philstar, Associate Justice Maria Theresa Mendoza-Arcega, who leads the anti-graft court's First Division, has instructed all involved parties to submit their formal arguments.

Evidence further gathered during the Senate Blue Ribbon committee's 2021 to 2022 investigation was entered into the court record by Ingrid Reyes from the Senate’s legislative archives.(April Jane Cabalida, CNU Comm Intern)