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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider BI welcomes conviction of immigration officer on falsified travel docs of Wirecard exec

BI welcomes conviction of immigration officer on falsified travel docs of Wirecard exec

Published Oct 19, 2023 09:52 am

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) welcomed the decision of the Pasay City regional trial court (RTC) which convicted an immigration officer on falsified travel documents of a fugitive Austrian national who is wanted in Germany in the $2.2 billion fraud involving Wirecard.

Convicted of graft and falsification was Immigration Officer Marcos S. Nicodemus on falsified travel documents of former Wirecard executive Jan Marsalek.

“The Bureau of Immigration acknowledges and respects the court's ruling in this case, underscoring our unwavering commitment to upholding the law,” BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said in a statement issued on Thursday, Oct. 19.

Let this incident serve as a stern reminder and a clear warning to any personnel who consider doing activities that are criminal in nature,” Tansingco stressed. 

Tansingco's statement was issued after the National Bureau of Investigation announced that the Pasay City RTC found Nicodemus guilty of violations of Republic Act No. 10175, the Cybercrime Prevention Act, and RA 3019, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The NBI said that in a decision handed down last Oct. 9, the RTC sentenced Nicodemus “to a maximum imprisonment of nine (9) years for each of the criminal cases with perpetual disqualification to hold public office.”

The Philippines received information that Marsalek arrived in the country in 2020 and, because of this, then Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary and now Solicitor General Menardo I. Guevarra ordered the NBI to conduct an investigation.

"Investigation conducted by NBI-IAID (NBI-International Airport Investigation Division) revealed that based on Marsalek’s travel records, he arrived in the Philippines thru NAIA Terminal 1 on June 23, 2020, processed by Immigration Officer (IO) Darren Ilagan but with a mysterious 'cancelled by user' remark and departure on June 24, 2020 at Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) processed by Immigration Officer (IO) Perry Michael Pancho,” the NBI said.

“However, NBI-IAID discovered thru CCTV (closed circuit television) footages that Marsalek never entered the Philippines and he did not even depart thru MCIA,” it added.

It said that Ilagan testified that Nicodemus, who was his supervisor, “ordered him to conduct a derogatory check upon Marsalek despite the fact that he is already not on duty on that date and that Marsalek is not present during checking.” 

The NBI also mentioned that "Marsalek’s records were found to be spurious due to the following: existing immigrations protocol as of that date disallowing passengers in entering Philippine territory due to Covid-19 situation; absence of actual scanned data page of the passport; existing protocol that incoming flights of airlines disallowing the boarding of a passenger who will be prevented entry based on the destination country’s protocol as of flight date."

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