PETALING JAYA, 6 Mar: The two PKR representatives that went to Manila did not have any relation to the current conflict in Lahad Datu, Sabah, instead it was to demand an explanation on the alleged scam involving the individual wanted by Philippine police, Manuel Karingla Amalilio.
PKR Leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim explained the visit of PKR Deputy President, Tian Chua together with lawyer, R Sivarasa on 7 February was to obtain exact information regarding the case.
This is because, according to Anwar, the case involving Amalilio was somewhat surprising following the swift action by Malaysian authorities as claimed by Tian Chua previously, to avoid Amalilio’s deportation to the Philippines.
Amalilio was jailed for two years on charges of owning a fake passport after the magistrate ruled the sentence at the ward of Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kota Kinabalu on 4 January.
“Within a short period, he was immediately captured and placed in lock-up. It is suspected that this was to avoid him from being sent (returned) to the Philippines.
“He has two passports. One from Malaysia and one from the Philippines. He was charged with having a false Philippine passport.
“So the Philippine government stated that he should have been sent back for investigation,” said Anwar.
The outcome of the meeting with the country’s authorities confirmed that the Philippine passport issued to Amalilio on 2009 was genuine and valid.
Amalilio who has connections with the Sabah Chief Minister, Datuk Musa Aman was allegedly involved in a fraud which involves more than 15,000 Philippines, the majority of which were Muslims and involved almost RM900 million (12 billion pesos).
Anwar had previously urged the government, particularly the Ministry of Home Affairs (MOHA) to cooperate with the Philippine government to ensure that this issue will not interfere with any diplomatic ties between the two countries.
