An Emirati accused of enticing Filipinos to pay hefty fees to secure non-existent jobs in Dubai has denied illegal recruitment and estafa - large-scale fraud - Philippine police said yesterday.
After receiving complaints from five people, police arranged a sting operation at a McDonald's restaurant in the Philippines second city, Cebu City, on Saturday, and arrested the man as he accepted marked money from a would-be worker. Police identified the suspect as AK, 47, who lives in a rented apartment in Barangay Mabolo.
As of yesterday, however, the UAE Embassy in Manila had not received confirmation of the suspect's nationality from the Philippine government.
At yesterday's inquest proceedings, the assistant city prosecutor, Mary Ann Castro, charged AK and gave him until January 19 to file a counter-affidavit. Due to the nature of the charges, he is not eligible for bail.
"He denied the charges and is detained at a lock-up cell in my office after signing a waiver of detention," said Sen Insp Bonifacio Garciano, the chief of the theft and robbery section of Cebu City Police.
Officials said an arrested person who signs a "waiver of detention" cannot file a case against the authorities for arbitrary or illegal detention.
Fourteen more people have come forward since AK's arrest to lodge complaints, among them doctors, massage therapists and taxi drivers, bringing the total to 19.
One of the complainants - and the man police used to conduct the sting - was PG, a 35-year-old Filipino-Iranian who previously worked as a flight despatcher at an airline in Dubai and was eager to return. PG said he met AK during the first week of November while on holiday in Cebu City.
"He introduced himself to me as a judge and claimed that he was close to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid," PG said. "After a few meetings, he offered me a Dh20,000 monthly salary to work for Amiri Flight in the UAE."
PG quit his job on the strength of the offer and his fiance and three relatives were also offered jobs at Sheikh Mohammed's office and palace, he said.
PG said he was asked to pay 301,000 Philippine pesos (Dh25,065) to cover various costs for the five hopeful workers.
On November 17, PG handed over initial "placement fees" for the five complainants of 160,000 pesos. He paid out another 141,000 pesos over three instalments on November 21, November 30 and December 8. PG and the four applicants flew to Manila on December 6, where they were to sign their contracts and prepare to fly to Dubai. However, after a series of excuses from AK, they were forced to return to Cebu the next day.
It was back in Cebu, when AK asked for another 200,000 pesos, that PG became suspicious and went to police. "I've worked in Dubai since 2007 and got a promotion last year," PG said. "Now I've lost everything. I've lost my job and the chance to travel to Europe this year."
Sen Insp Garciano said that when he interviewed AK, he said he had been staying in Cebu for almost two years with his wife and two children. He could not produce any documents proving that he worked for a recruitment agency, nor was he licensed by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, an agency of Manila's labour department that promotes and monitors overseas employment.
"I asked him how he could afford paying the 45,000 peso monthly rent of the apartment after claiming that he didn't have a job here," Sen Insp Garciano said. "He said that he was from a very influential family in Dubai and his brother wired money to him."
Of those who complained, the taxi drivers claimed they were asked to pay 50,000 pesos each; masseurs 10,000 pesos and doctors 75,000 pesos each to cover visa and recruitment costs, according to Sen Insp Garciano.
