Estrada shrugs off charges he pocketed Abu ransom

Former President Joseph Estrada shrugged off charges by a former German hostage that he and his former top adviser skimmed off part of a ransom payment made to the Abu Sayyaf Muslim kidnap group.

Werner Wallert, held hostage with his wife and son and several other foreigners by the Abu Sayyaf in the southern Philippines two years ago, accused Estrada and his adviser Robert Aventajado of jacking up the ransom payment of the hostages and then skimming part of it off.

Raymond Fortun, a lawyer for Estrada, brushed aside Wallert’s accusations, saying it was "second-hand information" and "definitely came from misinformed sources."

Wallert made the charge in an interview with CNN on Wednesday.

Estrada was president and Aventajado the government’s negotiator during the hostage crisis involving 23 captives, including 10 Western tourists, who were kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf from neighboring Malaysian resorts in 2000.

Many of the foreign captives were later freed after the Libyan government promised the Abu Sayyaf millions of dollars in "aid," widely considered as a euphemism for ransom payments.

In an interview with ABS-CBN television, Aventajado said that during the hostage crisis, Wallert was more concerned about getting pictures for a book he planned to publish rather than for his wife and son.

He said the Wallerts were trying to get publicity for a book they were releasing.

Aventajado told ANC he planned to sue Wallert. He denied ever making money from the hostage situation and said he had a clean track record in government service.

Aventajado said that when reporters were around, Wallert’s wife, Renate, was very emotional about her family but when the family were outside of the media’s eye, "she was acting like a tourist, more concerned about her camera."

"I am looking now at my legal options to get back at these people. How dare they accuse me of this thing," said Aventajado.

Estrada was ousted in a popular uprising in January 2001, spawned by a growing corruption scandal. He is under detention while being tried on the same corruption allegations that led to his ouster.

Aventajado left government when Estrada was ousted.

The government has since launched a massive campaign against the Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim kidnapping group allegedly linked to the al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden.

The Abu Sayyaf leaders behind the 2000 hostage crisis remain at large. – AFP