Company boss in flood mess gives P15M more to DOJ
The owner of one of the companies implicated in the flood control corruption scandal has returned some P15 million more in cash to the Department of Justice (DOJ) to boost her chances of being admitted as a state witness.
Sally Santos of SYMS Construction Trading had the money delivered to the DOJ on Monday using armored vehicles, according to DOJ spokesperson Polo Martinez.
Royalty fees
The money represented “the partial restitution by Sally Santos pursuant to the terms of her memorandum of agreement” regarding her application to become state witness, said Martinez in a message to reporters.
It brought the total amount returned by Santos to P20 million, after she handed over P5 million on Dec. 4.
“The final amount to be surrendered will be equivalent to the royalty fees Sally Santos received from the ‘hiram lisensya’ scheme,” Martinez said in another message.
Santos earlier admitted in congressional inquiries that she “lent’’ her company license to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in exchange for a “3-percent royalty fee.”
The money surrendered on Monday was immediately sent to the Land Bank of the Philippines on the same day, Martinez said.
