A ranking lawmaker on Tuesday linked certain Pagcor officials to a Singaporean gambler who caused the state gaming company to lose hundreds of millions of pesos last April.

House Deputy Minority Leader Maria Milagros Magsaysay of Zambales said at a House public hearing that Pagcor officials headed by Cristino Naguiat Jr. should be made to explain why Singaporean gambler Ben Lui was allowed to leave the country despite a hold departure order issued against him.

Magsaysay claimed that some Pagcor branch managers attended parties at the condominium unit of Lui in Manila.

Magsaysay also disclosed that Lui, along with his Filipino-Chinese girlfriend, a former Pagcor employee, and an aide, managed to escape with him to Macau in May after their scam was busted by Pagcor.

According to Magsaysay, the girlfriend and the aide were the ones in charge of attending to the needs of Pagcor branch managers during parties sponsored by Lui in the penthouse of the Cleveland Condominium on Roxas Boulevard.

During a congressional hearing last August 8, Pagcor officials admitted to losing P160 million to three members of the Lui syndicate.

Jay Santiago, Pagcor assistant vice president for corporate legal affairs said the fraud was discovered last May following the arrest of its members identified as Lu Chu Ben alias Ben Lui and two of his companions.

Jorge Sarmiento, Pagcor president and chief operating officer, said the state-gaming firm red-flagged the group after Pagcor received a tip and arrested the members of the syndicate.

Sarmiento placed the money lost to the scam the Lui syndicate pulled off in April at P121.078 million at the Airport Casino; P17 million at the Heritage Hotel Casino and P19 million at the Hyatt Hotel Casino.

Pagcor only filed ordinary estafa cases against the suspects allowing them to post bail, Magsaysay said. And despite the huge amount Pagcor lost from he group’s scheme, the gaming firm’s security operatives did not bother keeping watch on them.

Pagcor also violated basic security protocol when it did not report the arrest of the suspects to the Interpol. With the nature of their operations, it is most likely that they have committed similar modus operandi in other countries with casino operations, Magsaysay sai