Thursday, May 24, 2007 Malaysian sued for swindling By Rhodamae M. Hernandez
THE National Bureau of Investigation South Eastern Mindanao and National Capital Region filed charges against a Malaysian national accused of swindling a woman for an amount of P1.6 million.
The suspect, identified as Tharavajah M. Sandrasegaram, 55, a resident of 13 JLN, Kemija, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, was arrested in an entrapment operation of the NBI operatives at Mergrande Beach Resort in Dumoy, Davao City at around 3 p.m. of May 22.
In an affidavit, Ma. Socorro Ilagan Flores, 49, a resident McArthur Highway in Matina, Davao City, said she got to know the suspect through chatting over the Internet.
She said she was befriended by the suspect who introduced himself as a kidney surgeon/nephrologist and a resident of Singapore.
The suspect further told her that he was working on a contractual basis at Seattle Baptist Medical Center in Washington of the United States, and who has been in the Philippines for medical missions under the Asean Kidney Foundation.
During the course of their "friendship" the suspect urged her to invest P2-million in a medical research that he said will earn billions of pesos in just six months.
Convinced, she gave the suspect P1.6-million before the man left allegedly for Singapore to finalize the research.
However, when she verified the company named by the suspect, she realized that these were non-existent.
She also checked with the Department of Health only to be told that there was no research being conducted by the Asean Medical Foundation.
Apparently clueless that she already checked about the suspect's bogus projects, the suspect contacted her to collect the remaining P400,000. They agreed to meet at Mergrande. But before going there, Flores sought the help of the NBI, resulting to the arrest of Sandrasegaram.
The suspect is now under custody of the Bureau of Immigration.
