Top executives of Philippine Health Insurance Corporation have stolen around PHP15 billion through fraudulent means, according to a former official.
Thorrsson Montes Keith said he resigned from the agency as the anti-fraud officer due to the widespread corruption within top officials—noting that “mafia members” are responsible for the anomalous transactions.
Testifying before the Senate Committee on the Whole, he claimed that the amount stolen from the agency has reached such a big amount due to the culture cultivated by this higher officials.
“Naniniwala po ako na ang dahilan kung bakit hindi natatapos ang korapsyon sa PhilHealth at naging kultura na po nito, ay ang pagtatalaga ng mga sindikato o mafia ng kanilang kasamahan, kasabwat o kapwa sindikato sa mga matataas na posisyon na nakakatulong sa kanilang iligal operasyon,” he said.
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He also said PhilHealth President and CEO Ricardo Morales ordered him to approach Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission Commissioner Greco Belgica in order to adjust a pending case involving the corporation’s overpriced COVID-19 testing kits.
“Inutusan ako para hilutin ang kaso sa overpriced test kits,” he said.
The former employee claimed that the huge amount stolen include the unauthorized release of reimburseents, funds allocated to hospitals that have not yet recorded COVID-19 cases, and overpriced IT systems PhilHealth aims to procure.
Morales, however, denied the charges, and claimed that Keith was just acting out of spite because he was rejected for a position he wanted.
He also noted that Keith’s removal from the police force as well as his sexual harassment cases are why he was not hired as his executive assistant. Morales also noted that in his nine-month tenure as the anti-fraud legal officer, he did not submit any report on anomalies in the agency.
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