Yasay urges audit of Piatco books

Former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Perfecto Yasay Jr., who is now the chairman of the MIAA-NAIA Association of Service Operators (MASO), yesterday called on the government to conduct an audit of the books of the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. (PIATCO) and Fraport AG with regard to their $425-million claim against the government.

Yasay said he has received information, supported by documents, that part of the expenses being claimed by Fraport may have been due to "political commitments back home (in Germany)."

Yasay said that he has documents that reportedly show that Fraport paid PAGS, a local company it jointly owns with PIATCO, some $23 million in 1999 to maintain and operate the NAIA Terminal 3 which was still to be constructed.

"Why the haste in paying and releasing more money when a local law firm pointed out 83 potential problems Fraport should have been wary of before investing more into the project?" Yasay said.

Even international banks that were supposed to fund the project, Yasay said, "refused to release any money then because they knew something was wrong."

"Government should investigate the matter," Yasay said.

However, Yasay said, "Fraport and not the Filipino people that should be made to account for such imprudence." – Marianne Go