Global alert out for BW’s Dante Tan

Australia has issued a global alert for Filipino businessman Dante Tan, who is embroiled in a cash-for-visas controversy and wanted by Philippine authorities for stock manipulation.

Australian Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock said Canberra was considering stripping Tan of his Australian citizenship after discovering he was wanted in the Philippines for alleged stock price manipulation in 1999.

In Manila, Justice Undersecretary Merceditas Gutierrez said yesterday they had submitted to Australian authorities a request for the provisional arrest of Tan.

"Wherever he is, we will try our best to get him back," Gutierrez told reporters. "We still don’t know what passport he is using right now. We can have his Philippine passport canceled."

Ruddock, for his part, has to fend off questions over Tan’s success in first getting an Australian business visa in 1998 and then residency. He has acknowledged that Tan donated Australian $10,000 (US$6,700) to a political party.

Shortly after the political donation became public this week, Tan left Australia on a flight to Singapore.

Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo said they have a report indicating Tan fled to Singapore.

She said they are now coordinating with their Singaporean counterparts on the whereabouts of the Filipino businessman.

"We are now coordinating with Singapore immigration," said Domingo.

"He (Tan) could be looking for a country where we do not have an extradition treaty but his problem is that he does not have the needed travel documents," Domingo added, referring to the no travel visa requirement in Singapore.

Tan, a close ally of former President Joseph Estrada, is wanted in the country for stock manipulation and currently on the run from Australian authorities on charges he obtained a residency visa from a government minister after making a political donation.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is seeking the help of the International Police (Interpol) to track down Tan.

In Canberra, Ruddock said Interpol had been alerted to look out for Tan and the Australian federal police were in contact with their counterparts in the Philippines.

Ruddock also denied any impropriety in the granting of the visas to Tan and in his political donations.

Ruddock earlier said they were powerless to stop Tan from leaving the country, even though he is wanted in the Philippines for the largest insider trading case in the country’s history.

Ruddock said Australia received no extradition request from the Philippines so they cannot stop Tan from leaving.

On the other hand, Gutierrez said they will coordinate with the Australian authorities to get more information. "When he goes back either to Australia or the Philippines, the arrest warrants are ready and can be implemented," she said.

Gutierrez explained even the Australian authorities might consider canceling Tan’s passport since he is also facing charges there.

Immigration Regulation Division chief Gary Mendoza said a hold departure order was issued as early as Feb. 14, 2001.

Immigration authorities began a massive auditing of all passenger manifest submitted to them since 2001 to determine Tan’s escape route.

"We are trying to find out how he managed to slip out of the country. I have assigned Attorney Mendoza to make a compilation of all the records we have of a Dante Tan leaving the country," Domingo said.

Mendoza’s investigation will include all sea and airports. Domingo added there are possibilities Tan left the country using a yacht or a private plane then sought refuge in Australia where he has a resident visa.

Domingo explained that with a resident visa, Australian immigration authorities would not bother Tan to ask why he did not have any Philippine exit stamp in his passport.

Mendoza, however, disclosed he has two pages of Tan’s supposed departure manifest entries but did not elaborate further.

"We are now coordinating with the Department of Justice to find out what his middle name is. I have so many Dante Tans here, (with different) middle names, addresses and ages," he told The STAR.

Gutierrez, for her part, admitted Philippine officials never knew that Tan was in Australia until news about his whereabouts broke out in the papers and on the Internet.

"He (Tan) has a counsel and maybe he was told about the extradition treaty (between Philippines and Australia). So when things came out in the media, he was alerted and he escaped," Gutierrez said.

At the same time, Gutierrez expressed confidence Tan could not get far since the cases against him are publicized, making it difficult for the Filipino businessman to obtain visas from other countries.

The DOJ filed criminal charges against Tan and two brokers in December 2000 over the alleged price manipulation in shares of BW Corp., which has since moved from gaming into property and been renamed Fairmont Holdings Inc.

Tan, then the majority share owner of BW, was a friend of Estrada. A former head of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has said Estrada pressured him to drop investigations into BW’s price rise.

Estrada, who is in custody and being tried for economic plunder and perjury after being ousted by a popular uprising in January 2001, has also been accused of profiting from BW shares. He has denied all charges against him. — Jose Aravilla, Aurea Calica