DOJ indicts 20 in PIPC investment scam By Jerome Aning
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:48:00 08/26/2008MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Justice on Tuesday indicted for estafa four directors and 16 other officers and incorporators of the Performance Investment Products Corp. for allegedly defrauding some 20 individuals of about P65 million in the biggest investment scam in the country.
In a 21-page resolution, Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño said there was enough evidence the accused conspired to get money from the complainants by posing as broker-dealer although the firm had no required business permit.
The prosecutors gave credence to the complainants’ charge that they lost P65 million, plus an additional P510,000, in investments that they made in dollars with the PIPC.
Four or five other groups of PIPC investors earlier filed separate charges against the firm’s officers.
Senior state prosecutor Philip Kimpo explained that prosecutors had to charge the firm’s other employees and other investors who claimed to be victims also because the law requires that there should at least be five suspects in a charge of syndicated estafa, a non-bailable offense.
The main respondents were the PIPC’s four top directors,
Michael H.K. Liew, Cristina Tuason, Ernesto Sy and Cristina Jurado. Aside from the four officers,
the others charged were Barbara Garcia, Anthony Kierulf, Ma. Pamela Morris, Luis Aragon, Victor Jose Vergel de Dios, Nicole Ortega, Christine Yu, Stanley Chua-Unsu, Janice Sylvestre, Mayenne Carmona, Morris Barbara “Bamba” Garcia, David Chua-Unsu, Maricar Gonzalez, Jimbo Aragon, Nicoline Amoranto-Mendoza, Jose Tengco III and Oudine Santos. The complainants who filed the case were Richard Emerson Chua, Marilou Gumabao, Nympha Valencia, Montserrat Tantoco, Alejandro Recto, Nenita Licaros, Fidel de Jesus, Edmundo Villacorta, Carolina Villacorta-Katigbak, Mercedes Gallent, Erlinda Batu, Adrienne Mae Cuevas, Charlemagne Chua, Enrique Severino, Michelle Mantecon, Carmen Sumawang, Marcia Rodriguez, Wilson Sy, Joel Perez and Regina Benitez.
The PIPC was charged with the illegal sale of securities in the form of a “portfolio management partnership agreement” which the Hong Kong-based firm used as a “research arm” for its foreign clientele.
He said the suspects could face a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, or 40 years in jail, if found guilty as the amount involved exceeds P100,000. A separate criminal charge filed by Mantecon was dismissed to avoid multiplicity of suits since she is also one of the complainants in a separate estafa complaint.
The panel found the element of conspiracy to be present because Liew, Tuazon, Sy and Jurado allegedly managed the complainants’ money and engaged as securities adviser, broker-dealer and investment house without the authority of the Securities and Exchange Commission and knowing fully well that the PIPC was registered for some other purpose.
"There is conspiracy when two or more persons come to an agreement concerning the commission of a felony and decide to commit it,” the prosecutors said.
“In this case, respondents Liew, Sy, Jurado and Tuason's overt acts consisted in the actual commission of the crime through PIPC's business operations for more than seven years; and in the moral assistance they gave to each other for the furtherance of their criminal intent of defrauding the general public of their funds," they said.
They said that while there was no evidence to show that the rest of the accused people conspired with Liew, Sy, Jurado and Tuason, they cannot escape liability as they have knowledge about the illegal business operation.
“But since they were not the ones who conspired to engage in such [an] illegal business operation, they can only be regarded as accessories to the conspiracy,” the prosecutors said.
The investigation showed that Liew was able to stash funds worth $250 million.The PIPC is alleged to have engaged in offshore foreign currency exchange trading as the Philippine branch of the PIPC-British Virgin Islands, which operates similar branches in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia and Zurich, Switzerland.
The present case stems from an earlier syndicated estafa complaint that the NBI filed against the officers and brokers of PIPC in connection with the financial scam which is estimated to have defrauded Philippine-based investors of $138 million deposited in various investment schemes operated by the PIPC group.
With Tetch Torres, INQUIRER.net Copyright 2008 Philippine Daily Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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