By Benjamin Pulta
MANILA – The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Wednesday announced the arrest of a suspended government lawyer who demanded PHP650,000 from a corporation in exchange for non-filing of administrative charges.
In a statement, the NBI said its Caraga regional office arrested Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)-Butuan Extension Office (SEC-BEO) Director Jason Tan in an entrapment operation over the weekend.
“This latest operation was conducted in close coordination with the SEC, whose leadership is concerned about protecting the SEC’s reputation from damage by a few bad actors within the commission,” the agency said.
The bureau urged citizens and businesses affected by similar extortion schemes to promptly report such incidents to the nearest NBI office for swift action.
A lawyer filed the complaint on behalf of his client, HMW Lending Investors, Inc. (HLI), alleging that Tan and an unidentified female cohort demanded money from HLI in exchange for the non-filing of administrative cases relating to alleged violations of the Revised Corporation Code and the Lending Company Regulation Act of 2007.
The initial demand of PHP650,000, covering HLI’s 13 branches in the Caraga Region, was eventually negotiated down to PHP250,000, of which only PHP80,000 would have been officially receipted, with the remaining PHP170,000 going directly to Tan.
The SEC has placed Tan under preventive suspension while the investigation is ongoing, and he will be presented for inquest proceedings before the City Prosecutor’s Office of Butuan City on charges of robbery with intimidation of persons, direct bribery, and graft and corruption. (PNA)
