Jimenez asks for forgiveness

Former Manila congressman Mark Jimenez, who was sentenced in Florida to two years in prison for tax evasion and illegal campaign contributions to former US President Bill Clinton, said yesterday he is sorry and accepts the court’s decision.

"I have made a mistake and I ask forgiveness for my mistake," he told Manila radio station dzBB.

"I have accepted all these and I’ve learned from my sins. I apologize to my constituents for not being there," he added.

Jimenez said he will voluntarily go to a minimum-security prison camp on Jan. 5.

Jimenez, who pleaded guilty to election conspiracy and tax evasion charges, was also ordered Thursday by a Florida court to pay $1.2 million in restitution. He admitted using an Uruguayan company to funnel $5 million out of the United States tax-free.

Jimenez was officially dropped from the roster of the House of Representatives yesterday because of his conviction. Speaker Jose De Venecia Jr. said Jimenez agreed with his move.

"He called me up this morning and said he supported my decision to remove him from the rolls," De Venecia told reporters yesterday.

Jimenez may run again for Congress after serving his prison sentence, De Venecia added. "There is no law barring him from running again," he said.

In a separate three-page statement, Jimenez expressed bitterness over the treatment he received under the Philippine justice system.

He accused the government of repeatedly violating his rights during his legal battle to fight off extradition.

"Due to its constant political encroachment and intrusion into the judiciary, in many other cases and not only my cases, it consistently undermines the principle of separation of powers (between the executive, the legislature and the judiciary)," Jimenez said.

"Our government seems to consider extradition as a political process, not a judicial process," he said.

The US government in April 1999 handed down a 47-count indictment against Jimenez for fraud, tax evasion and illegal campaign contributions to the Democratic Party, and asked Manila to hand him over.

Jimenez fought a US extradition request in court for more than three years until the Supreme Court ruled with finality on Dec. 17 that he must be placed under arrest during the duration of an extradition case being heard by a lower court.

The landmark ruling stated that anyone sought for extradition should be detained to prevent the Philippines from becoming a haven of fugitives.

It gave Jimenez the option of avoiding Philippine detention by voluntarily traveling to the United States and posting bail there.

Jimenez accused the Arroyo administration of pressuring the Supreme Court to hand down the ruling after he accused then justice secretary Hernando Perez in November of extorting $2 million from him.

Jimenez left for the United States on Dec. 26 under FBI escort to face criminal charges in Florida.

US federal prosecutors said Jimenez made about $41,500 in illegal contributions and caused false information to be submitted to the Federal Election Commission.

Jimenez built up a fortune running a computer components distribution business in the United States and Latin America after emigrating from the Philippines.

Jimenez used money from his Miami company and a closely related company to reimburse employees for illegal donations to Clinton and other Democrats. He moved back to the Philippines in 1998 after Clinton was caught up in a series of fund-raising scandals.

Elected to the Congress in 2001, then stripped of office in March for alleged poll fraud, Jimenez was a confidante of deposed President Joseph Estrada, who is on trial for plunder and other corruption charges.

Estrada later made him an economic adviser and described him as a "corporate genius" for his advise in the sale of government shareholdings in a number of Filipino corporations.

Jimenez — whose handover to the United States in December was the Philippines’ highest-profile case of extradition — said he did not support calls for a review of the extradition treaty with the United States, saying a problem lies not in the pact but its implementation.

Philippine officials earlier said they will review the treaty following a California judge’s refusal to hand over an American wanted in connection with the 2001 murder of his movie star wife Nida Blanca.

Roger Lawrence Strunk’s extradition was considered a test case as the first American citizen the Philippines has pursued.

"I think we should put our acts together on these matters and be more mature and circumspect in handling delicate issues instead of always adding political color to problems that confront the government which tend to embarrass the President and her administration," Jimenez said. — With Cecille Suerte Felipe, Nikko Dizon, AP