Malaysia stops Aman boss Amalilio's departure for PHL

source: www.gmanetwork.com

Malaysian airport authorities on Friday stopped Manuel Amalilio, the businessman who is facing a multi-billion peso estafa case in the Philippines, from departing for Manila.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, however, said she still does not know why Amalilio was held at the Malaysian airport airport. "We are still checking the real reason," she said.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas said they were informed by Philippine National Police (PNP) Attaché to Malaysia, Senior Superintendent Carlo C. Collado, who remains in custody of Amalilio, that Malaysian authorities have prevented the embattled businessman from boarding the Manila-bound Cebu Pacific plane in Kota Kinabalu.

"The reason for this remains unclear," Roxas said in a brief statement.

Roxas said they Philippine Ambassador to Malaysia is "already assisting us on this matter."

A report on "24 Oras" quoted Malaysian authorities as saying that there are some things that needed to be arranged regarding Amalilio's departure.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has earlier said that Amalilio, reportedly a Malaysian, is a Filipino citizen so he should be deported.

The country has no extradition treaty with Malaysia.

For his part, National Bureau of Investigation director Nonnatus Rojas admitted to reporters being disappointed with the development, saying his agency was "in high spirits" the entire day and was looking forward to Amalilio's turnover to Philippine authorities.

Rojas also said the four NBI agents sent to fetch Amalilio has already been directed to return to Manila to report to him details of the incident at the airport.

Amalilio was supposed to arrive Friday night after he was arrested in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, last Wednesday for "possession of fraudulent Malaysian passport and identificiation cards."

Amalilio flew to Malaysia late last year after his company, Aman Futures Group Philippines Inc., was linked to a P12-billion scam that allegedly victimized hundreds of investors.

Aman Futures is accused of defrauding investors through the "Ponzi Scheme," in which the firm misrepresents itself as a company engaged in futures trading and lured investors by offering between 20 to 80 percent interest within eight to 20 days.

Amalilio and nine others were ordered arrested by Presiding Judge Dennis Vicoy of the Pagadian City Regional Trial Court Branch 20 in connection with the alleged scam.

Other accused who are already in government custody are Aman president Fernando Luna and his wife Nimfa Caballero-Luna; Aman incorporators Donna Coyme, Lelian Lim Gan, Wilanie Fuentes, Nazelle Rodriguez, Eduardo Lim and Lurix Lopez; and Aman employee Dhurwen Wenceslao. -- Mark Merueñas, Amita Legaspi and Gian Geronimo/KBK/ELR, GMA News