Philippine police chief urged to resign over graft allegations
The Philippine police chief faced calls to resign after admitting he accepted gifts and favours worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, but he insisted they were not bribes.
The Philippine police chief faced calls yesterday to resign after admitting he accepted gifts and favours worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, but he insisted they were not bribes.
Police Director-General Alan Purisima was also under intense scrutiny for assets seemingly far beyond his modest salary of 107,000 pesos (HK$18,500) a month, including four houses, a condominium and a luxury four-wheel drive.
"This is part of the culture of corruption throughout our national institutions," said Dante Jimenez, head of Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, a citizens' graft watchdog.
Jimenez's organisation is one of two groups to have formally called on the country's ombudsman to file bribery and corruption charges against Purisima.
In a Senate hearing on Tuesday, Purisima disclosed assets worth about US$400,000, including the houses, five vehicles, a trucking business and a chicken farm.
Purisima said he had also accepted an offer last year from a car dealer of a discount worth about US$60,000 when he bought a luxury sport utility car.