Rice smuggling mogul ‘David Tan’ bogus

AN activist lawyer on Wednesday expressed doubts about the existence of a certain David Tan, who is said to be the biggest rice smuggler in the country and accused Agriculture officials of using the name to divert the attention of the public on rice smuggling.

Lawyer Argee Guevarra, who filed plunder complaints against Secretary Proceso Alcala of Department of Agriculture and Administrator Orlan Calayag of the National Food Authority (NFA), suspects that the surfacing of Tan’s name in rice smuggling activities could be part of a grand design to ensure Alcala and his cohorts absolute control of the rice import industry.