Govt deports fugitive Sudanese
Article posted March 01, 2009 - 11:35 AM
MANILA, Philippines - The Immigration Bureau has deported a Sudanese who is wanted in Saudi Arabia for allegedly embezzling more than three million rials from a hospital that he worked in as a computer engineer.
Hosham Hassam Oshman Sharif, 37, was deported aboard a Riyadh-bound Saudi Arabian Airlines flight that left Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) last Friday afternoon.
Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said Sharif was kicked out of the country pursuant to a summary deportation order that the BI board of commissioners issued against him for being an undesirable alien.
Libanan said the Sudanese was detained for more than three months at the Bicutan immigration jail before he was deported.
Sharif was deported even if he has a resident visa , which he acquired after he married a Filipina.
Libanan said Sharif’s record as a fugitive from justice prompted the immigration board to cancel his visa and order his expulsion from the country.
Libanan cited an excerpt from the board’s deportation order that states: “It is not enough that an alien holds a valid visa to enjoy a continued stay in the country. It must be further shown that his presence in the country is not detrimental to public welfare and safety.”
“In other words, a foreigner loses his privilege to stay in the country if it is later found that he has a derogatory record of being an undesirable alien,” Libanan said.
Immigration records showed that Sharif was arrested by BI intelligence operatives last Nov. 21 on the strength of a mission order that Libanan issued at the request of the Saudi embassy in Manila
“The Saudi embassy said the Sudanese is wanted for embezzling some 3.031 million rials from the Al Falah International Hospital in Riyadh where he was employed as a computer engineer,” Almoro said.
The crime was allegedly committed from Februry 2003 to March 2007 when Sharif allegedly conspired with an Egyptian officemate in pocketing the funds by manipulating the hospital’s computer system and doctoring its customers’ accounts over which the duo had access and control.
Sharif afterwards fled to the Philippines with his Filipina wife, who was working as a nurse at the Al Falah International Hospital.
Criminal charges for breach of trust were later filed against Sharif before a Shariah court in Riyadh, which had issued a warrant for his arrest.
- GMANews.TV
