Philippine officials censured for lack of diligence in gambling probe

The Department of Justice in the Philippines have criticized officials of the National Bureau of Investigations and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) for their lack of diligence in shutting down five allegedly illegal online casinos operated by by Globaltech Mobile Online Corporation in Quezon City. The raid and subsequent closing down of the online casinos have also resulted in the  arrest of 15 individuals.

The Department of Justice analyzed the evidence and proceedings and concluded that the officials should have more diligently investigated before acting against Globaltech. There had been a court order, which the officials neglected, barring the state gaming regulator from shutting down the company’s operations and the court order was still valid when the raid took place..

The court order was issued by the Pasig City Regional Trial Court Branch 161 which temporarily stayed the PCSO decision revoking Globaltech’s license for its alleged failure to remit about P100 million in government shares from its gaming operations in 2016.

“It is without a doubt that at the time of the implementation of the search warrant in the subject premises of Globaltech, its operation of the numbers game… is still duly covered by a valid and subsisting authority/license from PCSO,” the DOJ panel said in its December 3 review.

The NBI and PCSO carried out the raid following a complaint by one Marcelo Flores, vice president of Great Platinum Gaming Online.

The high level DoJ panel of prosecutors said the evidence presented by NBI and PCSO was “not sufficient to establish a valid warrantless arrest.”

“The NBI operatives’ reliance on the documents submitted by PCSO and a letter from Flores is misplaced considering that the same are not verified, hearsay, self-serving and full of partiality,” the state prosecutors said.