DOJ has yet to send complaint to Chris Brown

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Justice (DOJ) is at a loss on where to send a copy of the complaint for $1-million estafa charge filed against hip hop singer Chris Brown.

The hearings against Brown’s promoter, Filipino-Canadian John Michael Pio Roda, have started but the DOJ has yet to serve a copy of the complaint to Brown.

Roda’s lawyer, Raymond Fortun, yesterday asked DOJ Assistant State Prosecutor Christine Marie Buencamino if the summons for the preliminary investigation hearing was properly served to Brown. 

Buencamino admitted that they sent it to the address that was provided in the complaint when the singer was still staying in the country. He had left the country by the time it was served by the DOJ.

The prosecutor instructed Ronald Sandoval, the legal counsel for complainant Maligaya Development Corp. (MDC), who said, “We will try to find him, if possible, since obviously he is not in the Philippines anymore.” 

He would also consult with his client on how to go about looking for Brown’s address.

Yesterday, Pio Roda submitted his 43-page affidavit on the $1-million estafa case, wherein he said that the complaint filed against him was done in bad faith and with malice.

He said the allegations “are nothing other than the product of the complainant’s desperate attempt to extort amounts which I either have no legal obligation to return, or one that I never received.”

Fortun said that Pio Roda was only supposed to pay $345,000 for Brown’s failure to appear in the 2014 New Years’s Eve concert at the Philippine Arena.  

He also mentioned that there was no contract executed with MDC in connection with the concert and that all contracts entered into with regard to “procuring” Brown were made between Pinnacle Live Concepts Limited, where he is connected, and local promoter J. Williams Management Group.