MANILA – Malacañang on Wednesday said one of the legal counsels of Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. executives Mohit and Twinkle Dargani is no longer affiliated with the Office of the President (OP).
The clarification was made after Senator Richard Gordon revealed that a lawyer from the Office of the Special Assistant to the President (OSAP) visited Tuesday the Dargani siblings who are detained at the Senate building in Pasay City.
According to reports, Gordon, chairperson of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, said the lawyer’s visit showed that the Pharmally executives' attempt to flee the country could have been facilitated by someone from the Duterte administration.
It was reported that the Dargani siblings hired four lawyers, including Daryl Ritchie Valles, to defend them in the ongoing Senate Blue Ribbon Committee investigation into the government’s procurement of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) medical supplies.
Nograles, in a press statement, said Valles resigned from OSAP as early as March this year.
“In the interest of providing the media and the public with information regarding the lawyer, Atty. Daryl Ritchie Valles, we made an effort to validate and confirm the dates of his employment in Malacañang,” he said. “Based on the records of the Human Resources Management Office the lawyer was formerly under the Office of the President and resigned on 1 March 2021.”
Nograles added that Valles is currently working at the House of Representatives.
“Further inquiries revealed that upon leaving the Office of the President, Atty. Valles thereafter worked in an office under the House of Representatives,” he said.
The Dargani siblings were cited in contempt on Oct. 19 following their refusal to cooperate with the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, particularly in providing documents of the financial statements of Pharmally which bagged multibillion-peso Covid-19 supply deals with the Department of Budget and Management’s Procurement Service.
Mohit was the corporate secretary of Pharmally and was in-charge of the financial statements, while Twinkle served as the firm’s president.
The two apparently went into hiding and were supposed to fly to Malaysia.
However, members of the Office of the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms, after receiving a tip from a “concerned citizen,” were able to arrest them on Sunday afternoon at the Davao International Airport before they could escape the country.
On Monday, former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said it was the executive branch that prevented the Pharmally officials from leaving the country. (PNA)
The clarification was made after Senator Richard Gordon revealed that a lawyer from the Office of the Special Assistant to the President (OSAP) visited Tuesday the Dargani siblings who are detained at the Senate building in Pasay City.
According to reports, Gordon, chairperson of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, said the lawyer’s visit showed that the Pharmally executives' attempt to flee the country could have been facilitated by someone from the Duterte administration.
It was reported that the Dargani siblings hired four lawyers, including Daryl Ritchie Valles, to defend them in the ongoing Senate Blue Ribbon Committee investigation into the government’s procurement of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) medical supplies.
Nograles, in a press statement, said Valles resigned from OSAP as early as March this year.
“In the interest of providing the media and the public with information regarding the lawyer, Atty. Daryl Ritchie Valles, we made an effort to validate and confirm the dates of his employment in Malacañang,” he said. “Based on the records of the Human Resources Management Office the lawyer was formerly under the Office of the President and resigned on 1 March 2021.”
Nograles added that Valles is currently working at the House of Representatives.
“Further inquiries revealed that upon leaving the Office of the President, Atty. Valles thereafter worked in an office under the House of Representatives,” he said.
The Dargani siblings were cited in contempt on Oct. 19 following their refusal to cooperate with the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, particularly in providing documents of the financial statements of Pharmally which bagged multibillion-peso Covid-19 supply deals with the Department of Budget and Management’s Procurement Service.
Mohit was the corporate secretary of Pharmally and was in-charge of the financial statements, while Twinkle served as the firm’s president.
The two apparently went into hiding and were supposed to fly to Malaysia.
However, members of the Office of the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms, after receiving a tip from a “concerned citizen,” were able to arrest them on Sunday afternoon at the Davao International Airport before they could escape the country.
On Monday, former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said it was the executive branch that prevented the Pharmally officials from leaving the country. (PNA)
