Chinese businessman linked to P6.4-B shabu tried to bribe way through immigration —Aguirre

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Thursday said that one of the respondents in the P6.4 billion shabu shipment case tried to bribe an official of the Bureau of Immigration through an employee to allow him to leave the Philippines.

Aguirre at a briefing in Malacañang said that Chinese businessman Chen Ju Long, also known as Richard Chen or Richard Tan, tried to leave the Philippines at least twice.

He added that Chen of the Philippine Hongfei Logistics Group of Companies Inc. that owns the warehouse where the shabu was shipped, tried to leave last week through one of the provincial gateways.

"[Chen] had not been successful because our senior supervision officer rejected the bribe being offered," he said.

Aguirre pointed out that Chen is included in the lookout bulletin order.

"He has no impediment leaving the country, but the only thing preventing him from leaving the country without any hitch is the LBO, which we have issued and so, we didn't know if he still persisted to leave the country through some other means or with help of some people," he said.

"We don't even know kung nandito pa siya... Wala pa namang information from the Bureau of Immigration that he left the country already. Kaya the presumption is he is still here," he added.

Aguirre, meanwhile, said that the Immigration employee who tried to help Chen has gone AWOL. He added that the National Bureau of Investigation is now hunting for the employee.

Last week, the Department of Justice asked the Valenzuela Regional Trial Court to reverse the dismissal of the smuggling charges against Chen,  Manny Li, Kenneth Dong Yi, Customs fixer Mark Ruben Taguba II, Eirene Mae Tatad, Teejay Marcellana, Chen I-Min, Jhu Ming Jyun, Chen Rong Huan, and three other still unidentified respondents.

Valenzuela RTC Branch 171 presiding judge Maria Nena Santos on December 12, 2017  ordered the dismissal of the criminal cases against Tan and several others for "lack of jurisdiction."

Aguirre said that the court is expected to release its decision on DOJ's motion on Monday. —NB, GMA News