Amalilio, Aman execs charged in court

MANILA, Philippines - Businessman Manuel Amalilio and the officers and agents of Aman Futures Group Phils. Inc. were charged yesterday with two counts of syndicated estafa before the Pagadian City Regional Trial Court in Zamboanga del Sur for allegedly duping some 15,000 investors in the Visayas and Mindanao in a P12-billion investment scam last year.

The cases were raffled to Branch 20 of Judge Dennis Vicoy.

A special panel of prosecutors has found probable cause to charge them in court.

Pagadian City Mayor Samuel Co has not been included in the charges.

Charged with Amalilio were Aman president Fernando Luna and his wife Nimfa, and the five board members who had cooperated with the National Bureau of Investigation – Leila Lim Gan, Eduard Lim, Willanie Fuentes, Naezelle Rodriguez and Lurix Lopez – and officers Dhurwen Wenceslao and Dona Coyme.

No warrant for their arrest has been issued because the judge was on leave.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said a warrant of arrest is necessary to bring Amalilio back from Malaysia, where he is reportedly hiding.

In two separate resolutions, the panel that Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Edna Valenzuela chaired said: “It is enough that the act or omission complained of constitutes the offense charged. It is merely based on opinion and reasonable belief. A trial is intended precisely for the reception of prosecution evidence in support of the charge.”

The prosecutors pointed to a “paper trail and documentary evidence” showing the direct and actual participation of the accused in the scheme.

The DOJ cleared Aman lawyer and corporate secretary Isagani Laluna and other respondents for insufficient of evidence.

Justice Secretay Leila de Lima said the charges against Laluna were dismissed because his “only participation was to act as a retained counsel and corporate secretary of Aman Futures.”