DOJ wants Amalilio returned

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Justice (DOJ) will push for the return of businessman Manuel Amalilio to stand trial for the P12-billion scam of his Aman Futures Group that duped thousands of investors in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said the DOJ is set to send a team to Malaysia to work on Amalilio’s return to the country after he was released last October following a 22-month detention for using a fake passport.

De Lima said the team would meet with the attorney general of the Chamber of Malaysia, who has been assisting the government in its bid for the extradition of Amalilio, through the help of the Philippine embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

“Our legal staff had a legal study and came up with certain options we can avail of. We will see which of those options will be feasible or doable since our first request for extradition was denied,” De Lima said.

“We have to be careful with our next step. We don’t want another move put to waste,” she said.

De Lima said Amalilio, who is facing syndicated estafa cases in Philippine courts, would remain in the Interpol red notice despite being released from Malaysian jail. 

However, it was reported that the Malaysian government has called off its extradition proceedings on Amalilio.

De Lima reiterated they would exhaust legal and diplomatic means to appeal the decision of Malaysia’s Ministry of Home Affairs.

Still, she has also given assurance that the cases against Amalilio in courts in Iligan and Cagayan de Oro have been moving despite his absence.

De Lima said the cases have been proceeding since all other co-accused of the businessman have been arrested and indicted in courts.

When asked about reports that Amalilio was aided by relatives who have high positions in the Malaysian government in evading extradition, De Lima said she would not speculate until such reports are verified.

Earlier reports had linked Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman and Foreign Minister Datuk Anifah Aman, said to be uncles of Amalilio, were pushing to prevent the alleged scam suspect from being deported.

Amalilio fled to Malaysia in November 2012 after his firm was linked to a P12-billion scam that allegedly victimized some 15,000 investors, mostly from the Visayas and Mindanao regions.

Several courts had ordered the arrest of Amalilio and nine other accused months after the fallout of his investment firm.

Other accused who were arrested were 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. 

Former Pagadian City mayor Samuel Co and his wife Priscila were also charged with syndicated estafa.

In January 2013, Malaysian immigration authorities arrested Amalilio in Kota Kinabalu for possession of a fraudulent passport and ID.

But his extradition was called off due to the crisis in Sabah emanating from the incursion of the followers of the Sultanate of Sulu in February 2013 over a territorial claim.

When Philippine authorities and Amalilio were about to leave for Manila, Malaysian authorities stopped the suspect from boarding the Manila-bound Cebu Pacific plane in Kota Kinabalu, saying he was a Malaysian national. The Philippine government, for its part, insisted Amalilio is Filipino.

Amalilio had to serve a two-year jail term in Kota Kinabalu for possession of fake passport.