BI arrests Cypriot man wanted for financial fraud

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) said its officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) arrested a Cypriot national wanted by authorities in Greece for involvement in a string of financial fraud cases.

Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco identified the alien fugitive as Renos Neofytou, 59, who was intercepted at the NAIA Terminal 3 on Sunday, as he was about to leave aboard an Air Asia flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

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Tansingco said Neofytou was barred from leaving after his name registered a positive hit in the Interpol database of wanted aliens, when the immigration officer scanned his passport on his computer.

“It appears that he is a convicted felon who is wanted to serve a prison sentence handed to him by a court in Greece,” the BI Chief said.

Tangsingco added that the Cypriot will be deported after the BI Board of Commissioners issues the order for his summary deportation.

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“He will then be placed in our immigration blacklist of undesirable aliens, and banned from re-entering the country,” he added.

According to the Interpol’s National Central Bureau (NCB) in Manila, Neofytou is subject of a red notice issued by NCB Greece in 2017, following his conviction on nine counts of violating the country’s cheques law, persistent non-payment of debts to the State, and issuing and accepting fictional tax documents.

It was learned that the Cypriot received various sentences ranging from four months to five years in each of the cases filed against him.

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BI arrests Cypriot man wanted for financial fraud

Also, he was found liable to serve a one-year prison sentence for fleeing Greece to evade evading criminal prosecution.    

Neofytou is now detained at the BI Warden Facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City pending deportation proceedings.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) reported that it has deported more than 1,300 aliens in 2022.

According to BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco, a total of 1,339 aliens, who have violated immigration laws, have been deported and subsequently blacklisted by the agency last year.

Topping the list of deported aliens are Chinese with 1,104 deportees, followed by South Koreans with 87 deportees, Vietnamese with 39, while Americans and Nigerians had 19 and 12 respectively.

Said aliens committed various immigration violations, including overstaying their visas, violating the conditions of their stay, and being undesirable aliens.

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