Robbery probe stalled by non-cooperation of San Juan City forex shop owner

The police probe on the P18 million robbery at a foreign exchange shop located inside a shopping mall in San Juan City two weeks ago is hampered by the continued refusal of the establishment’s owner to cooperate in the investigation of the case.

Since Monday last week, the Eastern Police District demanded from Neri Sunga, 52, owner of the Sanry’s foreign exchange shop for a copy of his financial transactions prior to the robbery on Dec. 1 but their request was ignored.

“We cannot conclude our investigation into the incident without Sunga’s financial statement. We already informed him Monday last week to submit such document but up to now he failed to do so,” said EPD director Senior Superintendent Leon Nilo de la Cruz.

In his report to De la Cruz, Superintendent Rodelio Jocson, San Juan City police chief said he first brought up the financial transaction issue with Sunga when he reported the robbery incident on Dec. 1.

Jocson said he kept on reminding Su­nga about the copy of his financial statements but the businessman gave different alibis each time they talk on the telephone. “I kept on reminding him of our request for his recent financial transaction everyday but he kept on evading the issue by claiming that he’s busy, has to consult a lawyer  for fear for his own safety,” Jocson told The STAR.

As of yesterday, Jocson said police investigators have taken the statements of five employees of Sunga and a big number of security guards who were on duty at the time of the robbery.

Jocson noted that the five employees themselves have given inconsistent statements as to how much money was inside the vault, which was opened by an acetylene torch by the thieves.

“Sunga claimed he lost P18 million to robbers but his employees cited different figures,” said Jocson.

The Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) recovered P2 million from one of the panels of the vault found outside the office and another P1.3 million at another vault, which was left untouched. Police investigators are eyeing an inside job angle in the robbery, which was committed right inside the foreign exchange office at the Unimart shopping malls in Greenhills that was guarded by at least 30 security guards during the robbery believed staged between Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. – Non Alquitran