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How come the case took so long?
“The Office of the Ombudsman announced that former Bureau of Immigration (BI) lawyer Atty. Fred Gutierrez has been sentenced to six months in prison for extorting money from a visa applicant back in 1995. That’s 20 years ago,” reports Michael Punongbayan in The Philippine Star.
Here’s what happened: “In 1995, Gesila Huyssen and her three sons, who are all American citizens, applied for Philippine visas. Gutierrez told Huyssen that their visa applications would be acted on favorably only if she would pay a deposit. Thinking that the deposit was required by law, Huyssen gave Gutierrez a total of USD$20,000.”
However, after a year of waiting, the visa applications were still not approved. This prompted Huyssen to ask Gutierrez to return her money. Gutierrez refused to do so.
Ombudsman prosecutors said Gutierrez was found guilty of violating Article 318 of the Revised Penal Code.
Aside from Gutierrez’s jail sentence, Judge Ermin Ernest Louie Miguel of the Manila Metropolitan Trial Court ordered him to pay a fine of PHP20,000. That, of course, is a big joke as he stole USD$20,000 from the complainant.
Photo: Stock
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