AUTHORITIES recovered documents and cash from the Bonifacio Global City condominium unit of former Ako Bicol party-list representative Zaldy Co during a search operation on Thursday night, December 11.
Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation’s Organized and Transnational Criminal Division served search warrants on Co’s unit, where three vaults were opened.
NBI spokesperson Atty. Palmer Mallari said agents found important documents along with a small amount of cash, although the bureau has yet to disclose the full contents of the materials seized.
“Somehow we will be able to cross-reference these documents to those we already have,” Mallari said in an interview, adding that the items were expected to support the ongoing investigation into the flood control scandal.
Mallari described the operation as successful and said investigators had collected what they believed was sufficient evidence.
“Now, because of that, we are ready to return the warrant and the inventory sheet to the issuing court for the court to be notified that there was an affirmative result of the operation. And from there, we would have to wait for the disposition of the court,” he added.
Co has been declared a fugitive from justice by the Sandiganbayan, which also ordered the cancellation of his passport over malversation and graft charges involving a P289 million substandard road dike project in Oriental Mindoro.
The NBI has requested the International Criminal Police Organization to issue a red notice for his arrest. Mallari said the bureau had leads on Co’s most recent location but declined to give specifics so as not to compromise operations.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government earlier said it was coordinating with authorities in Portugal amid reports that Co holds a Portuguese passport.
