Friday, May 09, 2008 Perez co-accused seeks court’s consent for Europe trip
THE businessman co-accused of former justice secretary Hernando Perez on Thursday asked the Sandiganbayan to allow him to travel to Europe for more than a month prior to his arraignment.
In a motion, Ernest Escaler sought permission from the anti-graft court to attend to his business meetings in France, Austria, Italy and United Kingdom from May 20, 2008 to June 27, 2008.
Escaler said his European tour has something to do with his official function as founding chairman and president of Philippine Interactive Audiotext Services Inc. (Piasa).
Piasa is a private company that provides call center services for foreign embassies of six European countries and Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
As Piasa chairman and president, Escaler said he is not only charged with overseeing the entire operations of the company in the Philippines but also in those countries.
Escaler, along with Perez, his wife Rosario and brother-in-law Ramon Arceo, were charged with robbery and graft for allegedly extorting US$2 million from former Manila congressman Mark Jimenez in 2001.
The anti-graft court’s First Division set their arraignment on a graft charge on May 16, while the Second Division will arraign them on a robbery case on May 23. (Sunnex)
