The lawyer of an alleged member of a “Korean mafia” who was arrested three days ago is set to file a petition questioning the arrest at the Court of Appeals (CA).

KOREAN MAFIA BOSS? Video grab shows Bureau of Immigration agents nabbing Korean businessman Kang Tae Sik in Makati on March 23. Kang’s family is decrying the manner in which the businessman was arrested. Kang is being accused of leading a ‘Korean mafia’ said to have had a hand in the death of fellow Korean Jee Ick Joo in October last year. PHOTO BY MIKE DE JUAN

In an interview on Saturday, Redentor Viaje said that he will file a petition for a writ of certiorari on behalf of Kang Tae-Sik. He maintained that the Department of Justice had no right to arrest Kang.

Kang was recently linked by Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre 2nd to the kidnap-slay case of Jee Ick-Joo, who was strangled in Camp Crame, the headquarters of the Philippine National Police.

Viaje said that he will ask the appellate court to nullify the arrest order issued by Aguirre.

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“This is also to ask Aguirre to order the immediate release of Mr. Kang from detention,” he added.

Viaje said no warrant was shown to Kang when he was arrested by Immigration personnel in his office in Makati City.

“It was not clear what was the offense committed by Kang who has been living in the Philippines for almost 40 years,” Viaje said a day after Kang’s arrest.

The lawyer said that last year, then Justice Secretary Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa issued a decision granting Kang’s appeal regarding a BI resolution ordering his deportation.

“In his decision, Caguiao pointed out that “it would, indeed, be the height of injustice if we condone the deportation of upright individual, who has made this country his home for the last 38 years absent any legal ground and merely on the basis of a complaint instituted by appellant’s own former lawyers,” Viaje said.