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Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. reiterated the other
day his proposal for the senators investigating the National
Broadband Network contract to seek the help of Hong Kong authorities
to compel the cooperation of ZTE officials. If memory serves, it was
the fourth time in two weeks that the opposition leader has raised
the same suggestion.
Pimentel has not explained why he felt it
necessary to call on the Senate—again and again and again—to
invoke the country’s Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty with Hong Kong
in obtaining information relevant to the ongoing NBN-ZTE inquiry.
Observers can only surmise that his colleagues feel that such a move
lead to nowhere—which is a shame.
ZTE is listed in the stock exchanges of Hong
Kong and Shenzhen. The jury is still out on the quality of corporate
governance monitoring done by Shenzhen bourse authorities. However,
the stock market in Hong Kong—despite the former crown colony’s
return to China in 1997—continues to abide by the business
standards of its erstwhile colonizer on the basis of a 50-year
transition and other Western countries.
As pointed out by this and other quarters, if
ZTE had really bribed Filipino officials to secure the NBN deal, any
indication of illegal disbursement by the Chinese telecommunications
company would raise alarm bells in the Hong Kong and spur market
regulators into action.
After all, the bribe money could only have come
from ZTE stockholders, who are probably unaware that their
investments have been thus misused.
Historical precedent
A reader of this column—who I would rather not
identify lest it spoil his retirement bliss—said he supports
Pimentel’s proposal. He even provided a bit of pertinent history.
“Yes, the Hong Kong watchdogs are quite
zealous about their job,” said the reader who was a ranking
executive of a large bank until recently. “You will recall that
when Moccata bank was bought by a Hong Kong bank, the buyer’s
auditors discovered payments made to a senior Central Bank
officer.”
He added: “This led to an investigation by the
Hong Kong anticorruption watchdog, which resulted in [the CB
officer] being brought to trial in Hong Kong. An indictment led to
the freezing of his assets there and jail time here.”
The banker-reader said: “Maybe the same can
happen to the [NBN-ZTE] culprits, both local and foreign.” That
is, of course, if all the accusations that have been raised in the
Senate blue-ribbon inquiry are proven to be true.
The problem is that most of the senators seem
quite content with pursuing their inquiry on the basis of statements
of “whistle-blowers” who have yet to present solid evidence.
Notwithstanding their shocking disclosures of multimillion-dollar
bribes, none of the witnesses has thus far been able to, say, lead
the senators through the proverbial money trail.
That his fellow-senators seem to be dragging
their collective ass on his suggestion to secure the collaboration
of Hong Kong authorities must be exasperating Pimentel no end.
The senators seem reluctant to undertake a probe
more thoroughgoing than their current reliance on hearsay evidence.
After all, most of what Jose de Venecia 3rd and Rodolfo Noel Lozada
Jr. have said so far were supposed to have been told to them by CHEd
Chairman Romulo Neri.
Separate probe
The senators’ inability to secure more
convincing proof of the alleged wrongdoing surrounding the NBN-ZTE
deal has given businessmen perceived to be close to Malacañang the
reason to propose a separate investigation.
Officials of Philippine Chambers of Commerce and
Industry and the Philippine Exporters Confederation have said they
would rather have the controversy investigated by an “impartial
body” created by President Arroyo—apart from the Senate and the
Ombudsman.
PEC president Sergio Ortiz-Luis was quoted in a
published report as saying the other day: “It is important that an
impartial commission from the private sector handle the ZTE
controversy so that there would be no perception of whitewash, since
everybody says even the Ombudsman is partial.”
Meanwhile, PCCI chairman emeritus Donald Dee
told reporters that potential investors are likely to adopt a
wait-and-see attitude while the abortive $329-million NBN deal is
being probed.
Investors have been monitoring the Senate
inquiry, he said. If the controversy is not resolved soon potential
investors will likely bring their money elsewhere.
“Definitely if this [controversy] drags on the
investors may be discouraged,” Dee was quoted saying. “We are
not the only investment destination in the world.”
There is more at stake in the NBN-ZTE issue than
the survival of the Arroyo administration—or the political
ambitions of its detractors.
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