Philippines - Convicted felony Clinton donor Mark Jimenez to seek election after US prison release

The Manila Times ^ | September 29, 2005 | Maricel V. Cruz

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Thursday, September 29, 2005

Jimenez eyes Atienza’s post

By Maricel V. Cruz, Reporter

CONTROVERSIAL former representative Mark Jimenez of Manila is planning to run as mayor for Manila when he returns to the country in November after serving out his two-year community service in the United States owing to criminal charges.

A congressman on Thursday gave this information to The Manila Times, but added that Jimenez may choose not to return to the country.

The source, who refused to be identified, said the businessman’s “family and relatives” are convincing Jimenez to stay in the Bahamas for good. The former congressman has a number of business interests in the commonwealth.

The source said Jimenez, whose real name is Mario Crespo, is contemplating a return to the Philippines to run either as a member of the House of Representatives or Manila mayor in the 2007 polls.

“There is no certainty yet on what he plans to do when he returns to the Philippines,” the source said.

In 2003 Jimenez, who was on his first term as congressman, was dropped from the House roster after an electoral tribunal ruled to disqualify him as the representative of the Sixth District of Manila owing to questions of his residency.

The tribunal found that Jimenez, who was one of the richest neophyte congressmen in the Twelfth Congress, was living in the exclusive Forbes Park in Makati City and not in the Sixth District of Manila, where he was elected congressman.

In December 2002, a few months after Jimenez’s expulsion from the House, he was extradited to the US to face trial for tax evasion, mail fraud and illegal campaign contributions to the campaign of former President Bill Clinton and the Democrat Party.

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