Amalilio indictment in P12-B scam seen next week

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Justice (DOJ) is expected to open the New Year with the indictment of businessman Manuel Amalilio, the alleged mastermind of the P12-billion investment scam that reportedly duped some 15,000 investors from the Visayas and Mindanao.

The special panel that conducted a preliminary investigation into the syndicated estafa charges is expected to issue a resolution on Jan. 4 on the cases filed by the victims against Amalilio and his associates in Aman Futures Group Phils. Inc.

“Amalilio deliberately ignored the summons and failed to submit an answer. In cases like that, a complaint backed by evidence – both testimonial and documentary – automatically stands and will be approved for filing,” a DOJ insider told The STAR.

The panel concluded the preliminary investigation after holding two hearings at the DOJ in Manila last Nov. 27 and Dec. 27 and another last Dec. 17 in Pagadian City, where most complainants and respondents reside.

Amalilio, who is reportedly hiding in Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia, failed to appear in any of the hearings to answer the charges despite the notices sent to his various addresses in the country, including his house in Cebu.

Panel member Mark Roland Estepa said they considered Amalilio’s failure to attend the hearings and submit a counter-affidavit as a waiver of his right to answer the charges.

“As far as the panel is concerned we gave everyone the chance to submit their counter-affidavit and in fact almost all respondents complied. If he (Amalilio) did not appear despite ample opportunity accorded to him, he has waived his right (to submit counter-affidavit),” he said.

The panel completed the hearings in just six weeks after the preliminary investigation was transferred to the DOJ from the Pagadian City prosecutor’s office.

The preliminary investigation process, under the law, should be completed in 60 days from filing of the complaints.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima admitted earlier there had been a “slight delay” in the preliminary investigation that was attributed to the filing of answers by Fernando Luna, nominal president of Aman, and reportedly Amalilio’s right-hand man, and his wife Nimfa.

But she said the pace of the hearings in this case was relatively faster than the earlier syndicated estafa complaints investigated by the DOJ.

Estepa explained the delay would benefit the eventual prosecution of the case since due process would no longer be an issue the respondent can raise in courts.

Luna and five other Aman board members – Leila Lim Gan, Eduard Lim, Willanie Fuentes, Naezelle Rodriguez and Lurix Lopez – have submitted their affidavits before the DOJ panel. They claimed they were just nominal officials and detailed how the investment scam worked and where the investments went.

The DOJ received at least 15 sets of complaints against Aman.

At the outset of the preliminary investigation last Nov. 16, the panel chaired by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Edna Valenzuela initially received six sets of complaints from Pagadian City fiscal’s office. These were covered in the preliminary investigation concluded by the panel.

A week later, the DOJ received two more complaints from the Philippine National Police filed by police and fire officers from Pagadian City who were also duped by Aman.

The NBI filed two other sets of complaints, which both implicated Pagadian City Mayor Samuel Co in the scam and two more coming from victims from Cebu City and Zamboanga del Sur.

Mayor Co attended the Dec. 17 hearing in Pagadian City but was still considered a complainant since the DOJ panel has yet to start preliminary investigation on the complaints against him.

Another complaint was filed against Co and City Treasurer Flornina Gerona.

The panel also received two more sets of complaints from victims from Pagadian, Tigbao and Labangan in Zamboanga del Sur and Ozamis City, Misamis Occidental.

Co, in his complaint affidavit, admitted he had tried to legitimize the operations of Aman.

He said he met with Aman board member Luna and asked for several documents “to legalize Aman’s operation.”

Co, whose bank accounts were frozen by the Court of Appeals earlier this month after investors implicated him in the scam, revealed that Aman head Amalilio even visited him at his office in the Pagadian City Hall in July and briefed him about the investment firm.

Amalilio, according to the mayor, submitted a certificate of incorporation from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to show that Aman was a duly registered firm.

“If only to protect the investing public of their considerable investments, during the interim of the submission of the required secondary permit, the Permits and Licensing Division recommended the issuance of a temporary permit valid only for 60 days,” Co claimed.

He said he had invested P3,266,700 in Aman Futures under the account name Bo’s Coffee on Sept. 11 with interest of 58 percent after 17 days. He made another investment the following day under the account name Max’s Chicken in the amount of P3,205,500 with a 60-percent interest after 17 days.

Last October when Aman collapsed. Co said he was issued two checks in the amount of P5 million each. He tried to cash the checks in Makati City on Oct. 5 but the checks were “dishonored and returned” for insufficient funds.

The SEC has also filed earlier separate charges of violations of Republic Act 8799 (Securities Regulation Code) against Aman and its executives. The bank assets of Aman, Amalilio and Co have already been frozen by the Court of Appeals.