CHICAGO, Illinois (JGL)-United States District Court Magistrate Judge Lawrence R. Leavitt extended until Nov. 1, 2006 the status hearing for the extradition of Charlie Atong T. Ang, according to Natalie Collins, public affairs specialist of the US Attorney’s Office in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Ms. Collins said Judge Leavitt held a
status hearing of Ang’s case last Monday, Oct. 2, and continued to Thursday,
Oct. 5, at 2 p.m. But at a “telephonic conference,” Judge Leavitt “stayed the
condition of Ang’s release (house arrest)” and set the status hearing on Nov.
1.
The 46-year-old Filipino-Chinese
businessman originally asked for a ten-day extension of his surrender date in
his “Emergency Motion to Continue Surrender Date.” But Judge Leavitt gave Mr.
Ang an extra seven days to prepare his extradition in exchange for his
cooperation with the court’s conditions of his house arrest. In his
“Extradition Certification and Order of Commitment” last Sept. 11, Leavitt
ordered Ang to surrender to the US
Marshal “not later than Sept. 13, 2006, at 12 p.m.” But on the same day, Ang’s
lawyer filed an “emergency motion to continue surrender date” for ten days from
Sept. 13, saying that he would be “filing for a habeas relief from the
Extradition Certificate and Order of Commitment entered by this Court on Sept.
11, 2006.” During the oral argument last Friday, Sept. 15, Reynaldo Esmeralda,
Special Task Force chief of the National Bureau of Investigation, asked the
court to set a status hearing of the case on Oct. 2, 2006, so the task force
can finalize details of the handover. William J. Genego, Ang’s counsel,
also told the court that the defense team will not contest the extradition
order anymore, adding that a petition for habeas corpus will no longer be
filed. Because “Ang is willing to return voluntarily to the Philippines,
even if (Mr. Genego) will ask for more continuance, the US government will not
object,” according to government lawyer, Assistant US Attorney J. Gregory
Damm.
Ang has been charged with plunder for
allegedly “conniving” with former President Joseph Estrada in converting
130-million pesos (2.6-M US
dollars) for tax money for his personal use, and in receiving proceeds from
illegal gambling schemes. Ang was arrested on Nov. 26, 2001 on an
extradition warrant while gambling in Paris Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas , Nevada
.
By Joseph G. Lariosa
