There is not enough evidence to initiate an investigation of former President Rodrigo Duterte and his alleged connection to the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), the Department of Justice (DoJ) said Tuesday.

According to Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Ty, the matrix presented at a Senate hearing into the illegal POGOs last month, where Duterte was present, was not enough to kickstart an investigation against him.

“It’s not what we are looking for. We can’t just go through some kind of fishing expedition,” Ty told reporters in a chance interview on Tuesday.

“As I said earlier, when it comes to POGOs, our investigation is really at the establishment level. So far, there has been no real link to PRRD (President Rodrigo Roa Duterte) yet,” he added.

Duterte was at the top of the web diagram of people whom Sen. Risa Hontiveros said benefited from POGOs that were linked to crimes such as money laundering, illegal gambling and other fraudulent activities.

Ty said Duterte’s connection to his former economic adviser Michael Yang was likewise not enough to start a criminal investigation against him.

“It’s not enough. For a criminal investigation, there has to be more than… I think what came out in the Senate investigations was the matrix — that’s intelligence,” he said.

He continued: “For there to be an investigation, there has to be something beyond intelligence.”

Build-up level

Meanwhile, Ty said the DoJ is currently investigating Yang’s alleged connection to POGOs.

“There are investigations against Michael Yang right now, but it is in the build-up level. Maybe I’d rather keep it close to our chest for now,” he said.

Hontiveros had said that Yang, who was also implicated in Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp.’s multi-billion-peso procurement of allegedly overpriced Covid-19 supplies and equipment, played a major role in the proliferation of POGOs in the country.