‘Lee had shunned bodyguards so as not to draw attention’

By: Marlon Ramos - 11 years ago

Delfin Lee FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Fireworks lit up the sky when policemen arrested Delfin Lee at an upscale hotel casino in Manila, as if on cue to celebrate the capture of the alleged brains of the P7-billion housing scam.

But the colorful pyrotechnics display was not a welcome event for agents of a special team of the Philippine National Police (PNP) tasked to hunt down Lee as some of them mistook the noise for gunshots.

“Some of us actually became edgy because the sound of the fireworks was similar to gunshots. We were worried that somebody has fired a gun,” said a PNP official who participated in the undercover police operation.

“We knew Lee used to travel with bodyguards. But we’re not sure if he had bodyguards outside the hotel that night,” added the source, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized by his superiors to talk to the media about details of the operation.

While they heard Lee had employed armed bodyguards, he said the fugitive owner and president of Globe Asiatique Realty Holdings Corp. apparently shunned traveling with security escorts to avoid calling the attention of the authorities.

The police official said Lee had just attended a meeting with a lawyer, whose name he could not recall, and some of his business partners when plainclothes policemen arrested him at the lobby of the Hyatt Regency Hotel Casino on Pedro Gil Street in Manila’s Ermita district at around 6:45 p.m. Thursday.

He said the lawyer initially tried to block Lee’s arrest, arguing that a Court of Appeals had quashed the warrant issued against Lee by a Pampanga court in May 2012.

“After a few tense minutes, the lawyer eventually allowed us to bring Mr. Lee to Camp Crame because he was already under arrest,” he said.

The source said Lee told them that he had security concerns and asked the arresting officers if they could instead use his Porsche Cayenne (XRE-761) in going to the PNP headquarters.

Hours before his arrest, undercover policemen had tailed the same luxury vehicle after receiving information that Lee was aboard the vehicle.

The source said the Porsche vehicle, which came out from the parking area of the Governor’s Place condominium in Mandaluyong City, was owned by the fugitive businessman’s 41-year-old mistress, who has been living at the condominium building with their three young children.

Although they were to able confirm that Lee had been staying with his mistress, he said they were extra cautious not to swoop down on the building without determining the high-profile fugitive’s exact location.

“If we strike the condominium or block the vehicles he was reportedly using prematurely, we might compromise the whole operation and lose the gains we had for several months,” the source said.

“We also wanted to avoid unnecessary confrontation because that condominium building is well-secured by private security guards.”

Despite the prominence of the case he was involved in, the police official said Lee had been going to public places, even visiting the school of his 11-year-old son.

He said Lee was also reported to have dropped by the residence of his daughter, socialite and television host Divine Lee, at the upscale Renaissance condominium at the Ortigas Center, Pasig City.

Since news about a Court of Appeals ruling favoring him came out in the media in November last year, the police official said Lee started attending meetings with his business associates.

“Mr. Lee was telling his business partners that the court has already quashed the arrest warrant against him to gain their confidence. He apparently did not want his business partners to feel uneasy and afraid every time they meet him,” he said.