NBI seeks Interpol help to locate 2 Indons accused of defrauding San Miguel unit

Philippine authorities asked the International Police Organization (Interpol) to track down two Indonesians accused of qualified theft involving funds of Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corp.

The Indonesians were identified as Ery Shadik Wahono and Nadiya Stamboel. San Miguel Holdings Corporation (SMHC) and Wahono are stakeholders in Citra.

NBI Deputy Director for Forensic Services Ferdinand Lavin said on Friday he requested Undersecretary Allan Guisihan, head of the Interpol National Central Bureau Manila, for help in the issuance of red notice on Wahono and Stamboel.

A red notice authorizes the Interpol to alert all member countries to locate and arrest Wahono and Stamboel pending extradition so they could face trial before the Marikina City Regional Trial Court.

The Interpol, however, cannot force a member country to arrest a person covered by a red notice. Interpol member countries also have the right decide on the legal value of issuing a red notice within their borders.

Wahono, a partner of SMHC in the Skyway Stage 3 project, supposedly made an unauthorized disbursement of P50 million against Citra Metro Manila Tollways.

The Indonesian supposedly used the money to incorporate another company, Citra Central Expressway Corporation.

The fund transfer was supposedly carried out via a loan, which SMHC said did not pass through the Citra board.

Lavin, who is also chief of the NBI International Operations Division (IOD-Interpol), said it was the SMHC, the infrastructure arm of San Miguel Corporation, that requested the NBI for help in locating the Indonesians.

On July 14, the NBI failed to arrest Wahono from his known address at Rockwell Residential Tower Condominium in Makati City. His unit was said to have been unoccupied in the past four months.

Stamboel, on the other hand, left the country on May 17 and has never been heard of since then. — VDS/KVD, GMA News