Posted on 03/19/2002 11:56:19 PM PST by duck soup
Case in Manila court
MANILA Representative Mark B. Jimenez is no international terrorist, but the head of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation wants him badly just the same.
How badly? Nothing short of a swift extradition, according to visiting FBI director Robert Mueller who refuses to even acknowledge Jimenez's current official title.
To Mueller, the fugitive is just plain old "Mr. Jimenez".
"We want Mr. Jimenez extradited expeditiously back to the US to face charges. The extradition of Mr. Jimenez is important to us," the FBI chief told newsmen Monday at the US embassy's seafront compound along Roxas Boulevard.
Mueller, who arrived Sunday for an overnight visit, met Monday with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and other officials to brief them on the US-led global war on terrorism - and to press for Jimenez's extradition.
Jimenez, however, just shrugged off Mueller's statement, saying it was nothing but a "repetition" of the US government's longstanding request for his extradition.
"My case is in court so it will be the (Manila Regional Trial Court) that will decide," he told the Inquirer on the phone.
Jimenez was indicted in Florida in 1999 for tax evasion, mail fraud, and illegal contributions to the Democratic Party.
He fled to the Philippines, cultivated close ties with the then president, Joseph Estrada, and managed to stave off his extradition through the courts. Last year, the businessman ran for Congress and won a seat representing Manila's sixth district.
The controversial businessman, whom Estrada had once described as a "corporate genius", has been seen lately with Ms Macapagal, accompanying her at the Philippine Racing Club, distributing goods to the poor in Manila's Tondo district, and hobnobbing with the privileged few allowed to attend the People Power II anniversary rites.
Jimenez, who has launched a feeding program for indigent children in his district, said his encounters with Ms Macapagal were "rare".
Even so, Mueller is leaving nothing to chance.
"We discussed (the issue of Jimenez) today at the Department of Justice and I raised with President Macapagal-Arroyo our desire to have him extradited expeditiously - under the legal procedures in the Philippines," Mueller said.
In a separate news briefing, Justice Secretary Hernando Perez said he assured Mueller that the Philippine government was doing its best to expedite the extradition of Jimenez.
"He asked about the case," Perez said of Muller. "We told him that we had already presented our evidence and it shall now be the turn of Congressman Jimenez to present his evidence."
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