15 foreigners indicted for investment scam

Fifteen foreigners – 12 Britons, a Czeck, a Canadian and an Italian – were indicted yesterday by the justice department in a Makati court for alleged involvement in an international syndicate operating a global investment scam in the country.

Senior State Prosecutor Archimedes Manabat found probable cause to criminally charge the aliens for alleged violations of the Securities Regulation Code (RA 8799) and recommended a bail of P40,000 each. The offense carries a penalty of from 10 to 21 years imprisonment.

"Assessing the evidence on hand which are uncontroverted, we find the existence of a probable cause to indict all of the respondents...by (their) employing a scheme to defraud prospective buyers of securities through the use of telecommunication devices, like cellphones, computers and similar devices," he said.

Manabat stated in his four-page resolution that the foreigners, who waived their right to preliminary investigation, had been "transacting and carrying out securities business in the Philippines without proper registration from the Securities and Exchange Commission."

Charged were British nationals Christopher Copeland, Kevin Turpin, Hanna Sutherland, Derek Warner, Matthew Carter, Geoffrey Missenden, James Fallon, Grayson Buckley, Bruce Darsy, Gabor Kaposy, Jonathan Dodson, Dionne Paulette Mc Larty, Czeck Helena Ciskova, Italian Massino Provenza and Canadian Martin Patrick Totton.

The investigating prosecutor junked the large-scale swindling charges, on the other hand, due to time constraints and the "inadequacy of the evidence to sustain a finding of probable cause."

He directed that the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, who has custody of the foreigners, should "conduct further investigation to adequately substantiate its charge of estafa for purposes of conducting preliminary investigation."

The foreign nationals were arrested on the evening of Feb. 16 at Montepino Building, Legaspi Village in Makati City. They were discovered to have operated an office named Mendez Prior Europe (MPE). Of the 15 nabbed, operatives of the Philippine National Police claimed only four were able to present passports.

The racket was discovered after Matthew Mc Evily complained about Dianne Davis and David Ross having swindled his client, Pietro Leoni of Johannesburg, South Africa, for the amount of $145,000 through stocks trading.

A check with the SEC showed MPE had asked for a cancellation of its license to operate in the country and that this was granted on Oct. 27 last year.