NBI recommends prosecution of two BI officers for falsifying documents

August 13, 2020

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Thursday said it has recommended the prosecution of two Bureau of Immigration officers before the Department of Justice (DOJ) for falsifying travel data of an Austrian national  said involved in the $2.2 billion Wirecard case.

NBI Officer-In-Charge Director Eric Distor identified the immigration officers as Perry Michael Pancho assigned at Mactan Cebu International Airport and Marcus Nicodemus assigned at NAIA Terminal 1, Pasay City.

Distor said that on June 25, 2020, when reports came out that Austrian national Jan Marsalek , the subject in the $2.2 billion Wirecard fraud in Germany, had entered the Philippines on June 23, 2020 in order to evade authorities in Europe, operatives of NBI-International Airport Investigation Division (NBI-IAID) headed by head agent Palmer Mallari, conducted an investigation.

Distor said the investigation showed that Marsalek's most recent travel records to the country include arrival on June 23,  at NAIA 1 processed by a certain immigration officer Darren  Ilagan but with a mysterious “cancelled by user” remark, and a departure on June 24 at Mactan Cebu International Airport processed by Pancho.

The investigation also showed that records were found to be spurious.

Existing immigrations protocol as of that date disallowing passengers in entering Philippine territory due to the COVID situation; absence of actual scanned data page of the passport of Marsalek; existing protocol that incoming flights of airlines disallowing the boarding of a passenger who will be prevented entry based on the destination country’s protocol as of flight date; and Ilagan was not in the official list of immigration officer on duty for midflight schedule on that date and thus believed to have merely went beyond his duty to encode it.

Likewise, Marsalek’s departure is spurious based on the following: CCTV footages at the MCIA on June 24 showing that the BI counters are unmanned because there are no available flights immediately before and after the supposed spurious flights; absence of actual scanned data page of the passport but a page of an unknown passport with the stamp of the Bureau of Quarantine; certification issued by Philippine Airport Ground Staff (PAGS)/Cebu Station Flight Dispatcher indicating that such flight was cancelled since February 1 due to COVID situation; Impossibility of Marsalek to be in Cebu the morning of June 24 after his arrival in Manila in the evening of June 23; and Pancho was not in the official list of IOs on duty for the morning schedule on June 24 and thus believed to have merely went beyond his duty to encode it.

According to MISD protocol, when a passenger presents himself at the immigration counter for arrival or departure formalities, the assigned immigration officer performs a derogatory check.

By doing so, the immigration officer would be able to know if a passenger has derogatory record (outstanding warrant of arrest inclusion in hold departure list or watchlist, blacklisted). This derogatory record check may also be cancelled by the immigration offficer by encoding a “cancelled by user” remark.

As a consequence, the next user should be able to see such and thus be notified of the status when the same passenger resurfaces at the BI counter for the departure formalities.

In this case, the next immigration officer should be able to act accordingly which was contrary to what Pancho did when he still encoded a departure record on Marsalek.

It was discovered that the immigration officer supervisor for the March 5 departure of Marsalek, a certain Marcos Nicodemus was also the duty supervisor on June 23.

When Ilagan and Pancho were summoned by the NBI, only the former appeared.

In Ilagan's affidavit, he alleged, among others, that the idea of conducting a derogatory record check on Marsalek was the order of his supervisor Nicodemus.

Ilagan further alleged that when he realized its wrong, he immediately encoded a remark “canceled by user” in order to notify the next immigration officer to act accordingly.

Ilagan added that it was after a few days when he realized that he was made a victim of a “pabokol scheme” where some of his co-workers and superiors made a seemingly harmless and significant request for their personal interests and benefits.

The NBI also said that there are no indications that Marsalek is still in the country due to the confirmation that he indeed arrived on March 3  at NAIA 3 via Qatar  Airways and departed on March 5 0 also via Qatar Airways and the absence of a genuine arrival thereafter.

The entries on the BI records for June 23 and 24, both spurious, appear to be mere diversionary in order to divert the attention of the authorities in Europe to focus its attention in the Philippines and not in their jurisdiction.

On August 7, the NBI recommended to the Department of Justice the prosecution of Pancho and Nicodemus for falsification of public documents by a public official under Article 171 of the Revised Penal Code and violation of RA 6713 (Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees) in relation to RA 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act).