CIDG chief questions exclusion from raid on illegal gaming firm

Former Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) chief Major General Romeo Caramat Jr. told a Senate panel investigating illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators that he was not informed about the March 13 raid on the Zun Yuan POGO in Bamban, Tarlac.

Senator Joel Villanueva questioned whether Caramat might have been excluded from the operation due to suspicions of his involvement with the operations at the Bamban POGO hub.

Caramat confronted former Philippine National Police chief General Benjamin Acorda Jr., expressing his upset over not being informed about the raid and suggesting that Acorda did not trust him enough to inform him.

During a Senate hearing on Tuesday, September 17, Caramat said he was only informed three to four days after the raid while he was on leave.

Villanueva also questioned Caramat's possible involvement with POGOs due to a photograph of him with businessman Jan Patrick 'JP' Samson, Alice Guo's co-incorporator of a company called Westcars.