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Philippines' Commission on Audit has reportedly discovered 2.6 billion pesos ($61.4 million) of 'ghost' deals
The 2.6 billion pesos ($61.4 million) of ‘ghost’ deals recently discovered by the Philippines’ Commission on Audit occurred under the reign of the Ampatuans, the Philippine Star reported, quoting the executive secretary of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Naguib Sinarimbo.
The irregularities in ARMM and in Maguindanao Province in the politically volatile southern island of Mindanao were said to have occurred last year, but Sinarimbo told the Star the transactions took place in 2008 and 2009.
Suspended ARMM Governor Zaldy Ampatuan and other officials from the powerful Ampatuan clan were removed from office after being implicated in the brutal election-related massacre of 57 people, including 30 journalists, in November 2009.
The International Crisis Group described the event as “the worst acts of political violence in modern Philippine history, and the largest number of journalists slain on a single day ever, anywhere in the world.”
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