Philippine president's lawmaker cousin charged over flood control scandal

Philippine police arrested a lawmaker and cousin of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr in his hospital bed on Monday evening over his alleged involvement in a massive corruption scandal tied to bogus flood control projects.

T

he arrest came hours after prosecutors filed a "plunder" case against Martin Romualdez alleging US$117.9 million in bribes, anomalous budget insertions and project allocations.



Marcos put the so-called ghost infrastructure projects, believed to have cost Filipino taxpayers billions of dollars, at the centre of his public address in July last year.



Romualdez had been brought to the private hospital in the afternoon after suffering from "unstable blood pressure" and "anxiety attack".



According to authorities Romualdez has been read his rights and is now considered a person deprived of liberty.



Plunder is a non-bailable offence referring to large-scale corruption punishable by life imprisonment.