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Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Germany, Libya, Philippines paid ransom to "terrorists": negotiator (1:00 p.m.)
MANILA - Germany, Libya and the Philippines paid 11 million dollars in ransoms to Abu Sayyaf guerrillas who kidnapped a group of western tourists in Malaysia in April 2000, the Filipino official who won their freedom has claimed.
Roberto Aventajado, an aide to then Filipino president Joseph Estrada, recounted controversial details of the hostage drama in his book, "140 Days of Terror".
Asked to comment on the allegations, German embassy press attache Henning Hansen told AFP that mission officials had not read the book.
"We are not able to comment on what we do not know yet," Hansen added.
Libya has said it only pledged to give development aid to Jolo and other Muslim areas of the Philippines in exchange for the hostages.
Aventajado fetched 20 German, French, South African, Finn, Lebanese, Malaysian and Filipinos in batches from Jolo island in the southern Philippines, where they were hidden in tropical jungle after being seized from the Sipadan resort off Borneo island.
"The Germans paid a million dollars for Renate Wallert -- or rather we did, because we had to advance the cash," Aventajado wrote, referring to a German hostage who walked free after 85 days.
"The Germans paid nothing for the release of her husband and son and seven other white hostages from Sipadan plus one French journalist," Aventajado said in his book, which was serialized by Today newspaper on Wednesday.
"They were released on the payment of 10 million dollars supplied by the Libyans."
The leader of the Sipadan raiders, Galib Andang alias Commander Robot, was wounded and captured in a firefight with Filipino troops on Jolo on Sunday. Military surgeons amputated his bullet-shattered left leg late Tuesday.
"There are a lot of speculations about what Commander Robot knows, but the important thing is that we have accounted for a notorious terrorist and we know that his cohorts are on the run," President Gloria Arroyo said Wednesday.
Arroyo replaced Estrada after a popular revolt in 2001. Now detained and on trial for unrelated corruption charges, Estrada has previously denied paying ransom to the Abu Sayyaf.
Filipino military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Lucero said the Estrada negotiator's written account "will only corroborate the admission of Robot that he got 10 million pesos (about 181,000 dollars) as his share, although we are still validating the amount that he supposedly got."
He said the Philippine government adhered to a no-ransom policy, "but as to the families of the victims, there is no law here prohibiting or penalizing those who pay ransom."
The last of the 21 original Sipadan hostages, Filipino Rolando Ullah, escaped earlier this year.
The US government labelled the Abu Sayyaf a "foreign terrorist organization" and deployed troops in the southern Philippines to help local forces hunt down its leaders after they kidnapped three American tourists in 2001.
One of these captives was beheaded, while a second was killed during the firefight with Filipino troops that secured the release of the third last year.
Aventajado claimed a former Libyan ambassador to Manila, Abdul Rajab Azzarouq, brought about 25 million dollars into the Philippines to buy the freedom of the Sipadan 21.
Aventajado rejected rumors that he and Estrada had skimmed off the balance of 15 million dollars. (AFP) |
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