Former PNP Chief Purisima seeks Sandiganbayan nod for 11-day US trip

(Eagle News) — Former Philippine National Police Chief Alan Purisima has asked the anti-graft court to allow him to go on an 11-day trip to the United States so he can attend the annual meeting of  his organization, and meet his family.

Purisima told the Second Division, where he faces perjury cases over alleged falsehoods in his Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth from 2006 to 2009, and from 2011 to 2014, that he planned to travel to the US on April 23 via San Francisco, where he would meet his loved ones.

Between April 23 to May 9, he said he planned to attend the 2018 National Book of the Play and Annual Meeting of the Royal Order of Jesters in Mississippi.

He said he was elected as the country’s representative to the organization, and that it was the first time a “member of the Manila Court will attend an annual meeting.”

He said he would be back in Manila on May 9.

According to Purisima, he has filed travel motions before the other Sandiganbayan divisions where he faces cases.

The former PNP chief is also facing a graft case over an allegedly anomalous courier service deal  the PNP entered into when he was the head of the organization.

He also faces cases over the the Mamasapano encounter that saw 44 killed in 2015.