State lawyers buck Nani Perez’s travel bid

Former Justice Secretary Hernando “Nani” Perez. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—State prosecutors have opposed a request by former Justice Secretary Hernando “Nani” Perez to be allowed to travel to Thailand to purchase orchids for his company.

Perez, who is facing a graft case in the Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division, has asked to be out of the country from Nov. 2 to Dec. 15.

The opposition filed by Assistant Special Prosecutor Lalaine Benitez of the Office of the Ombudsman said Perez in his petition failed to cite an urgent reason to be allowed to leave, considering that he did not show an actual order for orchids to be met.

Benitez also said the trip would last more than a month—which was too long—and Perez did not state where he would be staying in Bangkok.

Besides, the opposition said, Perez could easily assign another official or employee of his company to take care of the business in Bangkok.

Perez is facing a graft case in the Sandiganbayan in connection with his alleged failure to disclose a $1.7-million foreign bank deposit in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) for 2001.

Perez, through his lawyer Marcial Balgos, denied ownership of the $1.7 million in an account in the European Financial Group (EFG), a private bank in Switzerland. He said the bank closed on Oct. 31, 2001, two months before he filed his SALN.

He said the money never came into his legal possession as it was placed in escrow by his business associate, Ernest Escaler, for his wife, Rosario Perez, and his brother-in-law, Ramon Arceo, as a “consequence of a purely civil transaction.”

Perez is president of Malvarosa Ventures Inc., a domestic corporation engaged in the propagation of orchids at its farm in Malvar, Batangas, for sale and distribution in the Philippines and overseas. He said he had been authorized by the company’s board of directors to negotiate with Thai suppliers.—Cynthia D. Balana