The Philippine President, Mr Joseph Estrada, said yesterday he did not report attempts by a former ally to bribe him with millions of dollars because he was too busy.
He said that the provincial governor, Mr Luis Singson, an old friend who was also a gambling friend, was part of the illegal lottery syndicate which tried to bribe him.
But Mr Estrada admitted he did not report either the involvement of Mr Singson in the syndicate or the attempted bribery, both of which are punishable under law.
"A president has so [much] work to do," he said. "That is the work of the Philippine national police."
Mr Singson's allegation last month that he paid some 400 million pesos (about $8 million) to President Estrada has led to a campaign to force the President's resignation. He is likely to face an impeachment trial in the Senate later this month on the charges.
President Estrada also denied charges he had received kickbacks of one billion pesos from the sale of a stake in domestic telephone firm Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co to Hong Kong's First Pacific Co Ltd.
Former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Mr Perfecto Yasay said on Thursday night that Estrada also made money from last year's sharp rise in the share price of gaming firm BW Resources, which is now subject to an insider trading probe.
Mr Yasay, however, admitted he did not have proof. He has publicly quarrelled with the president over the BW Resource case and was eased out of office earlier this year.
"These are all complete lies," President Estrada said of Yasay's charges. He had, however, admitted on Thursday that Singson paid about 200 million pesos into the bank account of a scholarship foundation run by the president's brother-in-law but he did not know about it.