Lawyer denies role in bogus charges vs Wang Bo to delay deport

THE lawyer of accused crime lord Wang Bo said he was not behind the bogus charges against the Chinese national to delay his deportation on illegal casino gambling charges.

During the House of Representatives hearing by the committee on good governance and public accountability on Wednesday, Atty. Bryan Bantilan was asked by Cavite Representative Elpidio Barzaga Jr. if he had signed two complaint affidavits of a certain Jose Chua against Wang Bo.

It was discovered during the previous hearing that Bantilan represented Wang Bo in his inquest proceedings before the Bureau of Immigration (BI) when he was apprehended at the airport for carrying a canceled passport. Coincidentally, before Wang Bo’s arrest, Bantilan also represented a certain Jose Chua in an estafa charge against Wang Bo.

Justice Secretary Leila De Lima said the use of the same lawyer for Wang Bo and for his complainant raises suspicions that the charges were bogus to delay Wang Bo’s deportation.

De Lima had said the March 5 summary deportation order, which was supposed to be implemented within five days, was not carried out because of the pending charges that were later dismissed.

Atty. Bantilan denied that it was his signature on a complaint affidavit executed by Jose Chua on Jan. 15, 2015 demanding the return of P3 million for the payment of a house in Bacoor, Cavite the title of which turned out to be fake.

He also denied signing another complaint affidavit by Chua amending the first estafa charge and executed on Feb. 10, or one day before Bantilan represented Wang Bo in his inquest proceedings.

Bantilan said he only represented Wang Bo during the inquest when he had interviewed him for 15 minutes. The Chinese national supposedly told him he was not the same person wanted by China on alleged illegal gambling activities.

When Barzaga asked Wang Bo if he knows Bantilan, Wang Bo said he does not remember if Bantilan was his lawyer.

“Mr. Wang Bo, look at Mr. Bantilan. Is this the first time you saw him?” Barzaga said

“There was one lawyer (during the inquest proceeding), I cannot remember if this is the lawyer or not,” Wang Bo said.

Barzaga asked the committee to subpoena the records of the immigration bureau where Bantilan’s signatures appear for Wang Bo’s inquest, as well as those from the notarial section of the Manila prosecutor clerk of court, which junked Wang Bo’s estafa charges to determine Bantilan’s genuine signatures.

Bantilan meanwhile said he had already submitted his specimen signatures to the National Bureau of Investigation conducting forensic examination in connection with Wang Bo’s deportation case.

Wang Bo is wanted by the Chinese government for alleged transnational gambling and is now a subject of a deportation order, which was held in abeyance due to the bribery charges and the estafa charge lodged against him.

He was apprehended in the airport over a canceled passport and is now facing deportation over an arrest warrant issued by the Chinese embassy.

Wang Bo denied a Standard report that alleged he bribed BI associate commissioners  Abdullah Mangotara and Gilberto Repizo for his release and that the said payoff was intended to sweeten the ruling administration Liberal Party’s campaign kitty.

At first, the BI voted to release Wang Bo due to missing authenticated documents on his charges. The report alleged that a representative for Wang Bo met with Mangotara and Repizo before the reversal of the deportation order.

But De Lima had intervened and reinstated the summary deportation order after Repizo and Mangotara outvoted BI commissioner Siegfred Mison for the release of Wang Bo.

The Chinese national also denied that the payoff was used to bribe lawmakers in the House of Representatives for the swift passage of the proposed Bangsamoro basic law, which seeks to create a more politically autonomous region for Moro Mindanao.

The House probe is looking into allegations that Wang Bo paid the BI at least P100 million to secure his release after the bureau initially ordered his deportation, and another P440 million for lawmakers as bribe for the BBL passage.

Under threat of contempt, the reporter Christine Herrera invoked Republic Act 1477 or the Sotto law which protects journalists from revealing their sources unless on matters of national security.

Wang is wanted for allegedly embezzling $100 million and is suspected of opening casinos for transnational gambling.

The Standard report said bags of cash were allegedly unloaded at the rear entrance of the House of Representatives and these were brought to the office of Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.

It further said the CCTV footage of the incident that supposedly occurred from May 25 to 27 has been overwritten.