MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) terminated its consultancy contract with the third-party auditor for online casinos, noting that it was “in default” of its obligations and committed “unlawful acts.”

Pagcor on Thursday, March 9, said it ended its P6-billion deal with Global ComRCI which was entered into in December 2017. The company had been tapped to audit the revenues and cash flows of Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs).

“Pagcor would like to reiterate that contrary to previous reports, it has not yet paid the contract amount of P6 billion to Global ComRCI. No payment has been made by Pagcor in the past four years due to the shortfall from the minimum revenue stipulated in the contract,” the gaming regulator said.

But Pagcor added that it would “explore all legal remedies” to recover more than P800 million of the partial amount released to Global ComRCI, for the damages it has caused to the government.

The gaming regulator said it found prima facie evidence that Global ComRCI violated the Government Procurement Act.

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In Senate hearings, it was discovered that Global ComRCI does not have basic documents like a business permit, and seems to have engaged with a fraudulent bank to bump up its capital on paper.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian earlier underscored that his research team found that the company engaged Soleil Chartered Bank, a financial entity that is not registered with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, to certify that it had at least $25 million (around P1.3 billion) in funds. Pagcor’s bidding requirements specified that companies should have at least P1 billion in operating capital.

The Securities and Exchange Commission also said the company is not registered with the agency.

Pagcor has endorsed the matter to the Office of the Solicitor General for possible filing of administrative, civil, and criminal cases against Global ComRCI. 

Past hearings found that there was a tax leakage of P9.1 billion due to discrepancies in gross gaming revenues reported by the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Pagcor, and POGOs. – Rappler.com