BUSINESMAN Richard Tan has asked the Justice department to dismiss the criminal charges filed against him by the Bureau of Customs in connection with the P6.4-billion shabu shipment seized in May this year.
He sought the dismissal of the smuggling against him in a counter-affidavit he submitted to State Prosecutor Charles Guhit.
Tan said the case filed against him by Customs should be dismissed for mootness as the same charges filed by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency against him and other respondents had already been filed by the Justice Department before the Valenzuela City regional trial court.
“Since the case for violation of Section 4 of R.A. No. 9165 has already been filed by this Honorable Office and is now pending before the Regional Trial Court of Valenzuela City, it is respectfully submitted that this case has already been rendered moot,” Tan says in his two-page affidavit.
He adopted his answer in the previous preliminary investigation on the PDEA case, which he submitted to the Justice Department in September.
“My lawyer has advised me that I cannot be liable for Sections 1113, 1400, 1401 and 1403 of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act simply because the law does not contemplate the importation of dangerous drugs,” Tan says in his petition.
“Said act of importation of dangerous is covered under Section 4 of R.A. No. 9165. It cannot be complexed with the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act. There is simply no jurisdiction that supports it.”
Tan, whose real name is Chen Ju Long, is the chairman and general manager of Philippine Hongfei Logistics Group of Companies Inc., which owns the warehouse in Valenzuela City where the 604 kilograms of shabu were discovered on May 26.
He recently tried to leave for China but was not allowed since he os in the Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order and did not have the necessary Allow Departure Order.
Businessman Kenneth Dong and customs broker Mark Ruben Taguba, who were also named respondent in the complaint, have already sought the dismissal of the charges against them in their respective answers filed last month.
The other respondents are Eirene May Tatad, owner of EMT Trading, consignee of the drug shipment; Taiwanese nationals Chen Min and Jhu Ming Jyun, warehouseman Fidel Anoche Dee, broker Teejay Marcellana, businessman Manny Li, and unidentified individuals whom Customs believe had been involved in the shabu shipment.
