Delfin Lee was finally arrested after several years on the run by the Philippine National Police.
Lee was shocked when he was arrested, one of the arresting officers told the Philippine Star. But there was one thing on his mind.
“What he wanted to know was how he was arrested. He wanted to find out if he has a staff who tipped (us) off,” the officer said.
Lee, president of Globe Asiatique, was arrested as he left the Hyatt Hotel and Casino in Manila on Thursday evening.
Lee questioned the arresting officers while he was being transferred to prison about who gave him up.
“How long had you been there in the hotel? Or did anyone call you?” he said at one point.
Police had been tracking Lee for many months but for the first time spotted him in a heavily tinted vehicle thanks to sun rays hitting the vehicle, enabling the officers to see Lee in the passenger seat.
Officers arrested him outside the hotel just as he was about to get back in the vehicle.
Lee’s lawyer Giblert Repizo said that Lee is a free man based on the ruling by the Court of Appeals, but eventually allowed Lee to surrender to the arresting officers.
He’s the first of the five fugitives known as the “Big 5” to be arrested. Lee was allegedly involved in defrauding the Pag-IBIG Fund of P6.6 billion.
The Philippine Inquirer reported that Lee’s love of luxury vehicles helped bring about his arrest, as well as police discovering the identity of the businessman’s mistress.
The high-end vehicles were all registered under the name of his 41-year-old partner, with whom he has three children, a source said.
“We got a big break when we were able to determine the identity of Mr. Lee’s live-in partner sometime in December,” he said.
“From there, we searched where the woman was staying and what vehicles she was using. We found out from the records of the LTO (Land Transportation Office) that she actually owned several high-end vehicles.”
Friends Read Free