CEBU - A Philippine court has convicted a former Bureau of Immigration (BI) official for faking the travel documents of Jan Marsalek, an Austrian fugitive businessman who is wanted for his involvement in the collapse of the German payment processing firm Wirecard.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said the Pasay City Regional Trial Court Branch 111, in an Oct. 9 ruling, found former BI supervising officer Marcos Nicodemus guilty of two charges of violating Republic Act (RA) 10175 (Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012) and RA 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act) and sentenced him to up to nine years imprisonment with perpetual disqualification to hold public office.
In August 2020,
the NBI recommended before the Department of Justice the prosecution of
Nicodemus for falsifying the travel records of Marsalek during the height of
the pandemic. Marsalek, 43, who is believed to be somewhere in Russia, is
wanted by the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) for his
part in the Wirecard scandal, which involved more than USD2 billion in missing
funds.
Marsalek’s travel
records, processed by immigration officer Darren Ilagan, suggested he arrived
in the Philippines through the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 on
June 23, 2020. However, his records showed a mysterious “canceled by user”
remark and that he departed the country on June 24, 2020 via the Mactan-Cebu
International Airport (MCIA).
The NBI -
International Airport Investigation Division discovered through closed-circuit
television (CCTV) camera footage that Marsalek never entered the Philippines
and did not even depart through MCIA. Investigation also showed that Marsalek’s
records were spurious.
In his testimony,
Ilagan said Nicodemus, his supervisor, ordered him to conduct a derogatory
check on Marsalek even though he was off duty on that date and that Marsalek
was not present during the checking. (Benjamin Pulta)
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