GOTCHA! Tightly guarded by policemen, businessman Delfin Lee (center) is brought to a court in San Fernando City, Pampanga province, after his arrest on Thursday. NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
The capture of one of the country’s most wanted fugitives, Delfin Lee, was abetted by his love of luxury vehicles. Lee was a real-estate magnate and owner of GlobeAsiatique Realty Holdings Corp. He went into hiding after a Pampanga judge ordered him and four others arrested for syndicated estafa. Lee’s clients sued the developer for the the allegedly fraudulent use of almost P7 billion in housing loans that were issued beginning in 2008 by the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-Ibig Fund). The cases involve more than 10,000 housing loans.
The police had been hunting for Lee since May 2012. He was arrested at a hotel casino in Ermita, Manila, on Thursday night.
The police were able to track Lee down thanks to his preference for motoring in style. Lee registered his high-end vehicles under the name of his 41-year old mistress, with whom he has three children, according to a police official.
“We got a big break when we were able to determine the identity of Mr. Lee’s live-in partner sometime in December,” said the police official, who agreed to talk with the Inquirer on condition of anonymity as he did not have authority to officially speak on the matter.
Task Force Tugis, a crack team of police investigators created by Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Alan Purisima, were able to capture Lee after several other law enforcement units had failed. Agents knew that Lee was hiding in Metro Manila, riding in various luxury vehicles owned by his mistress. The source asked the Inquirer not to name the woman, saying she was not in anyway involved in the syndicated estafa case filed against Lee.
Luxury cars
Lee’s live-in partner owned a Dodge Durango, a Porsche Cayenne, a Ford Expedition, a Toyota Land Cruiser and a Mitsubishi Adventure. Lee himself owned a Porsche Panamera.
“But he seldom used the Panamera because he knew the authorities were already hot on his trail,” the PNP official said.
“Mr. Lee was using his live-in partner’s vehicles alternately to avoid suspicion. The windows of the vehicles had dark tints, which made it difficult for us to determine if he was really inside the vehicle every time we did surveillance operations,” he said.
Before he was arrested in the lobby of Hyatt Regency Hotel and Casino, the PNP official said, Lee left Governor’s Place at around 1 p.m. in his mistress’ Porsche Cayenne with license plate No. XRE-761.
The vehicle got stuck in traffic on its way to the hotel, the official said, and a motorcycle-riding member of the arresting team managed to get close to it and saw a man inside “who looked like Delfin Lee.”
“Luckily, the window tint of the Cayenne was not that dark. Our agent was able to make a positive identification of the subject,” the police official said.
Stakeout
The police team decided not to enter the hotel and just place a stakeout in the area to avoid calling the attention of Lee’s driver and their other companions.
After almost four hours, he said, Lee and his group emerged at the lobby of the hotel. It was 6:45 p.m. Plainclothes policemen walked up to Lee and arrested him.
“Mr. Lee was immediately handcuffed. We read him his rights. We also explained to his lawyer that the arrest warrant against his client was still valid and in effect,” he said. Lee was then taken to Camp Crame to undergo medical checkup. Police also took his mug shots and fingerprints for documentation.
With report by Marlon Ramos and Tonette Orejas
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