Bureau of Immigration deports Sudanese embezzling suspect

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Immigration has deported a Sudanese national wanted in Saudi Arabia for allegedly embezzling more than three million rials from a hospital in Riyadh.

Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said Hosham Hassam Oshman Sharif, 37, was flown back to Riyadh Friday afternoon.

Associate Commissioner Roy Almoro said BI intelligence operatives arrested Sharif last Nov. 21 based on a mission order by Libanan at the request of the Saudi embassy in Manila.

“The Saudi embassy said the Sudanese is wanted for embezzling some 3.031 million rials from the Al Falah International Hospital in Riyadh where he was employed as a computer engineer,” Almoro said.

Libanan said Sharif was deported even if he was issued a resident visa which he had acquired by his marriage to a Filipina nurse.

He stressed that Sharif’s record as a fugitive from justice prompted the immigration board to cancel his visa and order his expulsion from the Philippines.

According to the BI, Sharif allegedly conspired with an Egyptian officemate to manipulate the hospital’s computer system and doctor its customers’ accounts, over which they had control, from February 2003 to March 2007.

The BI said Sharif then fled to the Philippines with his wife, whom he met at the hospital where she worked as a nurse.

Criminal charges for breach of trust were later filed against Sharif before a Shariah court in Riyadh, which had issued a warrant for his arrest, the BI said.