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Another Gambling911.com world exclusive as we have learned that late Tuesday evening (Philippines time) that the Global Internal Audit (Asset Management Group) investigating the alleged embezzlements by former Bodog director Robert Gustafsson and his so called "Swedish Mafia" have leveled yet another indictment against Gustafsson, former CFO Arleen Aldaba, Sherwin Quiambao and Sylvia De Guzman. (Read the indictment here). This follows last week’s indictment broken exclusively by G911 last week. You can read the most recent indictment here.
Gustafsson has been charged under Philippines article 310 of the Revised Penal Code: Estrada or Qualified Theft. Gustafsson is accused in this complaint of having “double dipped” using his corporate credit card to the tune of 177,770 PHP.
A Gambling911.com source close to the audit team asserts that the Swedish transplant would “pay for personal expenditures on his corporate credit card that was already being paid for by the company and then he would submit the same receipts to Aldaba, who in turn approved payments to Gustafsson.”
Our source added that, “Quiambao and De Guzman would then issue company checks to Gustafsson for expenditures that were already paid for.”
Gambling911.com is being told that the audit team discovered improprieties whereby Gustafsson’s personal credit card and expenses were “far more outrageous” than previously believed and advised us that “more charges coming”. The complete tally of these charges was not yet determined, however.
Our source on the audit team claims: “He had a similar deal in place with Aldaba, Quiambao and De Guzman where he would submit two copies of his personal credit card receipts and claim them both as business expenses. So in essence for every $1000 he’d spend “entertaining” clients in the red light district of P Burgos, he would receive $2000 back. The audit team estimated that the total of these double-dipped payments is in excess of $100,000.”
The Philippines has a low threshold for theft, and if these allegations on the indictment prove to be true, each of the named individuals could face 20 years in prison plus 1 year for every 10,000php over 22,000php. This translates into a possible maximum prison time of 45 years.
Based on information obtained from a number of sources close to the probe, it appears as if Gustafsson may have had an agreement in place with the former Chief Financial Officer Arleen Aldaba and two former Bodog employees, Sherwin Quiambao and Sylvia De Guzman, who “essentially turned a blind eye to what was taking place”.
The audit team confirmed to Gambling911.com that they were unable to detect as of yet if these other individuals were receiving kickbacks as part of the alleged scheme, though an extensive investigation was ongoing.
Gustafsson’s motivation is not entirely known, but our source can only speculate.
“Robert Gustafsson is suffering from a phenomena named ‘Manila Rock Star Syndrome’.
“When western and European men move to developing nations, women tend to attach themselves to these men because they are new and exciting and if they are flush with cash, it magnifies the experience. It’s common to see aging, overweight, white European men with bad teeth arm in arm with a young beautiful girl. If he’s got the money, he can have several of these girls. $1000 a month can be life changing to these girls and their families but it’s nothing to these “sexpats” trying to recapture their youth as they suffer through a midlife crisis. We’re told it’s addictive and when their money starts to run out, they can be tempted by bad decisions and even resort to crime to keep the good times rolling.”
There are indications that a high ranking Philippines politician could be named as part of a much larger indictment by week’s end, though Gambling911.com is yet to confirm this information and will not do so until such documents are filed in a court of law.
In recent days, Gambling911.com has reported on how a former Philippines Governor, Chavit Singson, did have some association with the defendants.
Guilt by association is universally accepted as just that, however. It does not necessarily mean a party is culpable. So we will just have to wait and see which former politician, if any, is indeed charged.
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
