Court issues arrest warrant for Dante Tan, 7 others

A Pasig City court has issued a warrant of arrest for businessman Dante Tan and seven others for their alleged involvement in the stock manipulation scandal that almost caused the collapse of the local stock market in 1999, Justice Secretary Hernando Perez said yesterday.

Judge Amelia Fabros set a P4 million bail for Tan, a crony of jailed former President Joseph Estrada, P3 million for Raul de Castro, P2 million each for Eduardo Lim, Hermogenes Ladarran and Mario Juan and P1 million each for Jimmy Juan, Federico Galang and Eduardo Co.

The authorities, however, cannot locate Tan although Perez said he may still be in the country.

"We have received reports he is in the country but nobody seems to have seen him around. We are still trying to verify if Tan is indeed here," Perez told reporters, noting that the seven others have posted bail.

The DOJ had earlier placed Tan on the watchlist of the Bureau of Immigration and he would be temporarily stopped from leaving the country for five days.

Perez, however, said they have asked Fabros to issue a hold-departure order (HDO) against Tan and the others.

"We expect the regional trial court to issue an HDO against Tan and the others but we have already placed their names in the Immigration’s watchlist," he said.

Tan, former president of BW Resources Corp., and the seven others are accused of manipulating the stocks of BW between March to October 1999, almost causing the collapse of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).

The eight are accused of four violations of the Revised Securities Act: wash sales, matched orders, marking the close and abuse of equity trading facility.

Juan, a minority stockholder of BW, was earlier indicted for "non-disclosure" while Lim was charged of violating the "broker-director rule," he being an official of BW and Belson Securities Inc.

Held liable for wash sales were Tan, De Castro, Galang and Co; for matched orders, Tan, Jimmy and Mario Juan and Ladarran; for marking the close, Tan and De Castro; and for abuse of equity trading, Tan, Lim, Ladarran and Mario Juan.

Prosecutors, led by assistant chief state prosecutor Nilo Mariano, likewise found prima facie evidence to indict the seven for "syndicated estafa," a non-bailable offense, but explained that this will be the subject of "further investigation."