Employment Agency Head Faces Bribery Charges : Law: Oscar Fauni is accused of bribing a U.S. immigration agent to secure visas for health care workers in the Philippines.

The owner of a Glendale employment agency has been charged with trying to bribe a U.S immigration agent in Manila to secure visas for prospective health care workers from the Philippines, authorities said.

Oscar Banaag Fauni, 49, president of Telimed Health System Inc., surrendered to federal authorities in Southern California last week after his brother, Romeo, 53, a Philippines resident, was arrested as he allegedly delivered part of the bribe money to a U.S. immigration agent at an arranged meeting place in Guam, Assistant U.S. Atty. Deirdre Z. Eliot said.

The agent, Hipolito M. Acosta, officer in charge of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service office in Manila, is cooperating with the federal investigation, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana.

Oscar Fauni’s company places nurses in hospitals throughout Southern California in return for a portion of each worker’s hourly wage, Eliot said.

Fauni’s son, Dale, 25, operates a similar firm, Mindel Health Care, in Irvine, the complaint said. He has been charged with conspiracy.

In May, the complaint alleged, Oscar Fauni offered Acosta $60,000 if Acosta would approve visas for 80 Filipinos to come to the United States to work. The complaint said the INS had delayed approval of the visas pending further review.

“He walked right into the office of the agent in charge and presents him with the prospective of ‘I’ll pay you $50,000 to $60,000,’ ” Eliot said.

Oscar Fauni also offered to make similar payments, on a monthly basis, for approving future visa applications, the complaint said.

Oscar, Dale and Romeo Fauni each are charged with one count of conspiracy to bribe a public official.

Romeo Fauni, who is in custody in Guam, is scheduled to be extradited to California this week, Eliot said. Dale Fauni, who was reported in Taiwan at the time of his uncle’s arrest, has not returned to this country, she said.

In an interview Tuesday, Oscar Fauni, who is free on $150,000 bail, said that it was the consular office that initially demanded money in exchange for the visas. The visa applicants were all health care workers who were expecting to be placed in hospital jobs through his son’s company, he said. He added that he was trying to assist his son when he arranged the payments.

“All of a sudden, this immigration office stopped the processing,” Oscar Fauni said. “They forced us to pay him. We were put in a situation where we had to comply with what he wants, or else he would stop my son’s business.

“They are turning a good citizen into some kind of criminal,” he added.