PASG urged to bring case vs ‘diamond queen’ to Arroyo

A Malacañang official on Sunday urged the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) to appeal its case against a British businesswoman allegedly involved in big-time diamond smuggling with the Office of the President. This was after the complaint, lodged against Siu Ting Alpha Kwok, was junked by a Department of Justice (DOJ) panel due to PASG's failure to submit an inventory of the P250 million worth of diamonds and pieces of jewelry seized from the suspect. “If someone does not agree with the decision, there are other remedies they [PASG] could resort to. They could appeal the decision of the DOJ to the OP [Office of the President]," Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Bello III told government-run dzRB radio. PASG officials described the DOJ decision as “unjust" and “prejudicial to the government." “The prosecutors’ early release of their decision before the review by DOJ Secretary Agnes Devanadera is quite a ploy, a publicity ploy in favor of Kwok," PASG chief of staff Jeffrey Patawaran said in a press statement. Patawaran also scored the DOJ prosecutors for stating that PASG failed to submit an inventory of the gems and prove that the seized items were imported and should be taxed. “The scale of justice should have tilted in our favor as Kwok failed to refute the same; neither was there any evidence presented to prove that the same were locally purchased. None of our local mines produce diamonds; thus, these stones are imported into our country. And, the Panel of Prosecutors should have taken judicial notice of such fact," he said. He also said that at the time the PASG filed the complaint against Kwok, the inventory was ongoing and that a gemologist was absent. The PASG last August 14, 2009, reported the arrest of Kwok and the seizure of $10.4 million worth of allegedly smuggled diamonds and signature watches from her house in Pasig City. Kwok’s lawyer, Bonifacio Alentajan, said his client was “erroneously and unlawfully turned over to the Bureau of Immigration and since then, Ms. Kwok has been imprisoned without any legal authority" at the Bureau of Immigration Detention Center in Taguig City. - Sophia Dedace/KBK, GMANews.TV