THE Senate Committee on Games and Amusement is ready to investigate allegations of bribery surrounding the Entertainment City project of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor).

Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel 3rd, chairman of the said committee, decided to undertake the investigation in the wake of reports revealing that Japanese billionaire Kazuo Okada’s Universal Entertainment (Universal) had paid as much as $30 million to a former Pagcor consultant in 2010, allegedly to secure a license to operate a casino at one of the biggest project of the state-run corporation.

Earlier reports claimed that Rodolfo Soriano, former PAGCOR consultant, received the supposed bribe from Universal to lobby for tax and other government concessions to boost the profitability of the casino it was developing.

“This is a serious allegation that merits a full-blown investigation by the Senate,” Pimentel said.

The senator said that Entertainment City is a big-ticket project of the national government aimed at drawing more tourists to the country and it should not be tainted by any hint of impropriety or wrongdoing.

Pimentel said that his committee would issue summons to Soriano and other former and current Pagcor officials to shed light on the matter.

He noted that even if the alleged bribery took place during the previous administration, there is still a need to find out the truth as part of the Aquino administration’s daang matuwid or straight path advocacy.

Pimentel said that the senate investigation could help salvage the reputation of the project as well as of the innocent locators therein.