BW’s Tan wants to travel abroad

Presidential friend and Best World Resources Corp. (BW) president Dante Tan has asked the Pasig Regional Trial Court to allow him to travel abroad while the stock manipulation case is still pending.

However, Assistant Chief State Prosecutor Nilo Mariano said yesterday they will most likely oppose the motion in view of recent deve-lopments in President Estrada’s impeachment trial, where the BW figures in one of the complaints.

"We are given an opportunity by the court to file our opposition or comment. We might oppose the motion or propose some conditions," said Mariano, who headed the BW probe team.

Tan did not specify where he was going and for how long. However, his lawyer, Agnes Maranan, revealed that he has a business trip in Hong Kong for two to three days, and in Jakarta, Indonesia on Jan. 17, a day after a scheduled arraignment.

Maranan assured the court that her client would not be fleeing the country.

"He (Tan) will be attending his usual business meetings. We hope the court will grant our request," she said.

The stock manipulation charges against Tan were the first ever in the history of the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Tan, BW official Eduardo "Moonie" Lim Jr. and majority stockholder Jimmy Juan were charged by the government for alleged manipulation of the gaming company’s listed shares. The case is now pending at the sala of Judge Briccio Ygaña of Pasig regional trial court Branch 153.

Government prosecutors said the three men conspired to cause artificial stock sales in an effort to boost the price of BW shares by more than 5,000 percent from March to October 1999.

Other charges, including wash sales, insider trading and matched orders, were dismissed due to the "insufficient evidence" submitted by Security and Exchange Commission probers.

Meanwhile, prosecutors said Juan has sought a reconsideration of the justice department’s findings that he was criminally liable for non-disclosure of ownership of BW shares. — Delon Porcalla