Policemen, soldiers fall prey to pseudo-investment firm

Thousands of investors have fallen victims to pseudo-investment company MTST Holdings Inc.

A group of investors, mostly policemen, naval officers and members of the military, filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission against MTST, a supposed investment company owned by a certain Maria Teresa S. Santos, for failing to pay promised interests and principal investments back.

MTST offers ridiculously high interest rates ranging from 15 to 20 percent for a minimum placement of P50,000 in just a period of six months. The principal amount will be paid back to investors at the end of the six-month period.

The group alleged that MTST, whose offices are located at the Villamor Airbase in Pasay City and San Roque, Marikina City, had violated the Bouncing Check law in several occasions.

In their complaint, the investors said the post-dated checks representing the interests and principal amount issued by MTST, were dishonored by Equitable PCIBank on the ground that MTST’s account had already been closed.

They said the new checks issued by MTST to investors whose interests were due from Oct. 28 to Nov. 6, 2002 were again dishonored by the firm’s new bank as there were no sufficient funds to cover the checks issued.

The group also complained that MTST has turned down investors’ requests for withdrawal of their principal investments because according to the MTST personnel, due interests are their priority. If withdrawals are to be made, post-dated checks will be given after one to two months to the investors with a 25-percent reduction from the principal amount.

Investors said all they get are promises from MTST officials that they would be paid soon but as of this date, not a single cent has been refunded to investors.

"For three weeks now, MTST staff has been giving promises to all investors that they will be paid. As of this date, however, investors have yet to see tangible translations of the many promises of MTST," the group said.

As early as October, the SEC has already issued a warning to the public to refrain from dealing with MTST, which is not registered with the Commission as a corporation nor as a partnership. Without the appropriate license, MTST is not licensed to engage in the business of soliciting investments from the public.

The advisory was issued by the SEC to avoid a repeat of the difficulties experienced by investors in the cases involving Glasgow Credit and Collection Services Inc., ICS Exports and Exsior.

The SEC has already referred the MTST case to the Department of National Defense as the company is located within the Villamor Air Base.