Graft conviction against former PAGCOR chair upheld
Genuino and two others were sentenced to six to 10 years in prison and perpetually disqualified from holding public office.
The Philippines.- The Sandiganbayan, the Philippines’ anti-graft court, has upheld the conviction of former Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR) chairman Efraim Genuino. In March, it convicted Genuino for misusing PAGCOR funds in 2012 by releasing PHP37m (US$671.9k) to the national swimming team without the board’s approval.
In its resolution on June 8, the court’s Third Division rejected Genuino’s motion for reconsideration, stating that no substantial arguments were presented to warrant a review of the decision made on March 3.
The court also denied the motions for reconsideration filed by the co-accused, former PAGCOR president and CEO Rafael Francisco and former Philippine Sports Commission chair William Ramirez. They were sentenced to prison for between six years and one month and 10 years. They were also permanently disqualified from holding public office.
Separately, the court denied Genuino’s appeal to reopen the presentation of evidence for multiple counts of graft and malversation of public funds related to the mishandling of PHP183.7m in PAGCOR funds.
According to PhilStar, authorities accused Genuino and other PAGCOR officials of illegally donating PHP44.05m from the state gaming firm’s intelligence funds to private entities such as BIDA Foundation, Wildformat Inc. and Pencil First, supposedly without any specification of public purpose.
