Probe links Philippines flood corruption to Pogo crypto schemes
Funds siphoned off from the Philippines’ flood control projects and converted into cryptocurrency may be linked to online scam syndicates run by offshore gaming operators, an official from the country’s cybercrime unit has revealed. Renato Paraiso, acting executive director of the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Centre, told This Week in Asia that investigators had uncovered…
A preliminary government investigation found that about 545 billion pesos (US$9 billion) had been spent on nearly 10,000 flood control projects since 2022, many of which were later discovered to be substandard or never built.
Lawmakers, public works officials and contractors are alleged to have colluded to siphon off large portions of those funds.
Philippine anti-corruption protests turn violent
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“There’s a definite link because these are the same exchanges or the same personalities that are converting USDT or cryptocurrency accounts for the people that we are suspecting are involved in Pogo operations, as well as these personalities involved in this flood control scandal,” Paraiso said.
