By: Itchie G. Cabayan
President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. announced on X on Thursday night, April 16, that former Ako Bicol representative and House appropriations committee chairman Zaldy Co has been arrested in Prague, Czech Republic.
“He is now detained in Prague after crossing into the Czech Republic without proper documentation and is currently in the custody of Czech authorities. We are in close coordination with the Czech government to ensure that all legal processes are followed and to arrange for his return to the Philippines at the soonest possible time…We will keep the public informed as developments unfold,” President Marcos, Jr. announced.
The former Ako Bicol representative and House appropriations committee chairman, has been a fugitive since last year. He is being linked to the flood control scandal after President Marcos himself exposed the scam, said to be the biggest in the country’s history.
Co is also said to be the co-founder of Sunwest Inc., formerly Sunwest Construction and Development Corp, a Bicol-based firm heavily involved in public infrastructure projects, particularly flood control and road construction, earning over ?38 billion in contracts from 2016-2024.
Investigators from the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) said that bank inflows (check deposits) from Sunwest were directed to Co.
Co and some officials of Sunwest and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Mimaropa were charged in connection with alleged irregularities in the procurement and construction of a flood control project along the Mag-asawang Tubig River in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro. The said project cost over P289 million.
