Dante Tan probed on campaign funds

SYDNEY (AFP) — Australian Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock said yesterday he had ordered inquiries into a report that a donation was made to his re-election fund by a Filipino businessman with the same name as a corporate fugitive.

The Sydney Morning Herald said a donation of A$10,000 (US $6,500) was made to Ruddock’s 2001 Liberal Party re-election fund by a man called Dante Tan, who was reported to have received Australian citizenship.

Tan also had the same birthdate as Dante T. Tan, who is wanted by Philippine corporate regulators over a major insider trading case which contributed to the eventual resignation of President Joseph Estrada.

The Australian embassy in Manila said it already requested Canberra for a report on the status of Tan and his alleged contribution to the Liberal Party election fund in Australia. The report is expected today.

The embassy also told The STAR that they are aware that Tan is hiding in Australia since he left the country after anomalies in Best World (BW) Resources Corp. stocks were uncovered.

The Sydney Morning Herald said documents filed at the Australian Electoral Commission showed that Dante Tan made the contribution to the electoral campaign in October 2001, just before the election.

The donation was reported to have been channeled through the business address of a prominent Lebanese businessman, Karim Kisrwani, who is already at the center of another political donation controversy.

Tan, who was listed in official Philippine documents as president and chief executive of Best World Gaming and Entertainment Group, and Kisrwani share directorships of two companies.

Kisrwani told the paper that Tan was "a millionaire businessman" and gambler who had been living at the Crown Casino in Melbourne. The Lebanese also said Tan had received Australian citizenship.

"He wanted to make the donation and the Liberal Party told him he had to use an Australian address, so I let him use mine," Kisrwani was quoted as saying.

Ruddock said yesterday there was no link between visas being granted and political donations.

He said "many" applications crossed his desk, most raised by members of parliament who did not reveal whether they were linked to the applicants by donations "or otherwise."

"I’ve got nothing to run away from," he told ABC radio.

Ruddock also told the Australian Parliament that Tan is a business migrant in the Philippines who was granted a business skills visa for migration to Australia on Sept. 11, 1998.

"I had no involvement in the processing of his application at the Australian embassy in Manila," he clarified, adding that all criteria set down in the migration legislation including local penal clearances from the Philippines’ National Bureau of Investigation were met in Tan’s case.

In relation to citizenship matters, Ruddock admitted his department processed Tan’s application, which had satisfied the criteria to be eligible for Australian citizenship.

"The character issues with regard to Mr. Tan that are reported in today’s newspaper did not emerge in the processing of Mr. Tan’s application in 1998," he said.

The Immigration Minister explained that Australian citizenship checking involves Australian police checks only and Mr. Tan’s were clear at the time of his application.

"My department is investigating whether Mr. Tan’s statement in his citizenship application would bring him within the scope of the powers that allow deprivation of his citizenship," Ruddock said.

"On the surface it appears that he may have misled my department by his statements in his citizenship application and I have asked the department to pursue that matter vigorously," he added.

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice in Manila said yesterday that Tan, who was charged with three cases of violation of the Revised Securities Act on Dec. 18, 2000 for the Best World Resources Corp. scandal, may be extradited even if he becomes an Australian citizen as long as the evidence would warrant his return to the Philippines.

"Citizenship is not a bar for extradition," said Justice Undersecretary Manuel Teehankee.

The Philippines and Australia signed an extradition treaty on March 7, 1988 which was ratified on Sept. 10, 1990.

Tan is considered a fugitive from justice as three warrants of arrest were issued against him by the Pasig Regional Trial Court in connection with the BW scam. — With reports from Aurea Calica, Pia Lee-Brago, Nikko Dizon