BI nabs wanted Cypriot fraudster
A Cypriot national wanted in Greece over a string of financial fraud cases was arrested Sunday by immigration authorities at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the Bureau of Immigration reported on Monday.
BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco identified the alien fugitive as Renos Neofytou, 59 years old. He was intercepted at the NAIA Terminal 3 on 29 January as he was about to leave the country via AirAsia flight bound for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Neofytou was barred from leaving after his name registered a positive hit in the Interpol database of wanted aliens when an immigration officer scanned his passport on a computer, Tansingco said.
Neofytou, a convicted felon in Greece, will be sent back to his country after the BI Board of Commissioners issues the order for his deportation and inclusion of his name in the agency’s roster of blacklisted and undesirable aliens who are banned from reentering the country.
Interpol’s National Central Bureau in Manila said Neofytou is the subject of a red notice issued by NCB Greece in 2017, following his conviction on nine counts of violating the country’s check law, persistent non-payment of debts to the state and for issuing and accepting fictional tax documents.
Neofytou received various sentences ranging from four months to five years in each of the cases filed against him and he also was found liable to serve a one-year prison sentence for fleeing Greece to evade criminal prosecution.
Neofytou is now detained at the BI Warden Facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City pending his deportation proceedings.