MANILA: An adviser of then President Joseph Estrada took two million pesos (RM136,917) of the ransom for the Abu Sayyaf hostages, or twice the “reimbursement” amount for purported negotiation expenses.
Robert Aventajado, Estrada’s then chief negotiator, levelled this accusation yesterday at Lepeng Wee, Estrada adviser for economic affairs in Mindanao who was also negotiating for the release of the nine Malaysians among the group abducted by the Abu Sayyaf in April 2000 from the Sipadan resort.