A friend of President Joseph Estrada who is a fugitive from US justice has been barred from leaving the Philippines ahead of his extradition trial, the justice department said Tuesday.
Jusice Secreteary Artemio Tuquero asked the immigration bureau to place Mark Jimenez's name on the immigration bureau's "watchlist" to prevent him from fleeing the country.
Jimenez, a prominent businessman and Estrada's former adviser on Latin American affairs, is sought by US authorities for alleged tax evasion, mail fraud and illegal campaign contributions to the US Democratic Party.
Washington formally asked for his extradition last year, but this has been repeatedly delayed by technicalities and an order by the Supreme Court granting the suspect a right to have access in confidential details of the extradition process.
The high court earlier this month, however, reversed its ruling and paved the way for the extradition process to begin shortly.
Estrada had earlier assured the public he would not intervene in the case.
Jimenez, who also goes by the name Mario Crespo, recently bought out a Manila newspaper that had been critical to the Estrada administration -- MANILA (AFP)
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