Monday, July 10, 2006

$3-M bribe lost at YNN

THE almost $-million (P150 million) bribe money which Ranhill gave to YNN has been lost allegedly after the hesitant decision of the Department of Finance and the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation.

This was revealed in the Senate and the House of Representatives following reports that the $3 million remitted by Ranhill-Berhad to YNN was allegedly being used to finance the consummation of the contract. The money was supposed to be used allegedly to bribe government officials who are willing to gamble just to close the deal.

Earlier, Ranhill had said that they were willing to pay $8 million (P425 million) to buy YNN and the P3 million was just a down payment to YNN.

The $5 million would follow after YNN succeeded in having Transition Supply Contract and Meralco signed the deal.

It could be recalled that YNN Pacific Consortium was put up in the amount of P625,000 only but was able to get the Masinloc sale deal.

The source said the $3 million which Ranhill had remitted to YNN could not be found and was believed to have been taken out of the said company.

The lawmakers, who believed that it would be used to pay for the contract, are now trying to know who got the money or where it went.

Aside from Sunny Sun, the name of another packager broker known in the business circle as “Mr. Front” and “Mr. Guy” was revealed.

According to the source, this man has a negative reputation as a packager or front of a company for a large sum of money just like what he did to YNN.

The lawmakers had earlier stated that they would file a case of graft against the government officials who will be found to have links to the extension of the deadline of Masinloc after the announcement of Finance Secretary Margarito Teves that YNN/Ranhill has 30 days more or until July 30, 2006 to pay the $227 million down payment upfront for the deal.

Senators Joker Arroyo and Aquilino Pimentel Jr. had earlier revealed the anomaly in the bidding of Masinloc after the Joint Congressional Power Commission unveiled that the winning bidder YNN Pacific Consortium was undercapitalized.

The local shareholder of YNN was YNN Holdings Corp., which was owned by Filipino-Chinese businessman Sunny T. Sun, a distributor of Duraflex Wires and Cables who sells electric wires to power holders like Meralco.


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