BW hearing set on May 2

Presidential friend Dante Tan, two of his associates and officials of five stock broker firms, were ordered to appear at the Department of Justice on May 2 to answer charges of insider trading filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Tan, majority owner of BW Resources Corp., as well as Jimmy Juan, Eduardo Lim Jr., and officials of the Aurora Securities Inc., SEC 2000 Inc., PNB Securities Inc., Mark Securities Inc. and Belson Securities Inc. were also asked to submit their respective counter-affidavits to disprove the allegations of the SEC's Prosecution and Enforcement Division (PED).

The corporate watchdog said Tan and Juan, a BW stockholder, violated the Revised Securities Act for manipulating the price of BW at the bourse.

Also charged was Eduardo "Moonie" Lim Jr., former BW president who went on leave from his post last Feb. 15 or at the height of the scandal, for violating the so-called broker-director rule.

On the role of the stockbroker companies, the SEC said these firms allegedly conspired to pull up the price of BW last year.

Juan had earlier questioned the SEC's move.

Through his lawyer, Agnes Maranan, he reminded the SEC that the Court of Appeals has already stopped the corporate watchdog from using a report of the Philippine Stock Exchange as a basis for its complaint.