Desierto suspends SEC exec linked to bribes

Ombudsman Aniano Desierto ordered yesterday the six-month preventive suspension of a lawyer of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused of receiving a total of P400,000 in bribes from the company of alleged Japanese swindler Genta Ogami.

In a six-page order, Desierto directed SEC chairperson Lilia Bautista to effect the suspension of SEC counsel Rommel Oliva who, in turn, was told to answer the charges against him within 10 days.

The case against Oliva stemmed from a motion to lift a cease-and-desist order issued against Ogami’s firm G. Cosmos Philippines.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) are investigating Ogami mainly in connection with the closure of Unitrust Bank because of the P18.25 million in unsecured loans he and his men reportedly got from the bank.

Cesar Tirol, the SEC’s resident ombudsman, held Oliva administratively liable for gross misconduct and dishonesty for falsely declaring under oath that there was no pending criminal case against him.

"The evidence at hand presents the concurrence of all the conditions that would warrant the preventive suspension of Oliva pending the conduct of the administrative proceedings of the instant case," Desierto’s order states.

Oliva allegedly received the bribes in two occasions – P350,000 in September last year and P50,000 a month later. The money was deposited in his bank account at Equitable-PCI Bank.

Desierto noted that Tirol’s report included a tape recording of conversations between Oliva and three officials of G. Cosmos.

The conversations were reportedly recorded by Wilfredo Cuneta, president of G. Cosmos, when he, along with lawyer Alfredo Nasser and Inoue Kensuke, also both G. Cosmos officials, met with Oliva sometime last year at EDSA Shangri-La Plaza Hotel.

In his report, Tirol said the "payment is also a consideration in connection with the discharge of his (Oliva’s) official function as Securities Counsel III handling the case resolving the motion to lift the CDO (cease-and-desist order)" to G. Cosmos.

The complaint against Oliva was also supported by sworn statements by Cuneta, Fujinori Taca, managing director in charge of management personnel of G. Cosmos, and Ma. Theresa Follosco, a former employee of the company.

Follosco’s signature appeared in a deposit slip in Oliva’s account (No. 0183-79839) at Equitable-PCI Bank’s Tierra-Nueva Alabang branch, when a P350,000 deposit was made on Sept. 25 last year.

Oliva was also found to have falsely declared that there was no pending criminal case against him in his personal data sheet with the SEC.

"Such denial is contrary to the certification dated Oct. 30, 2001…which shows that respondent Oliva is a respondent in a criminal case pending before the Evaluation and Preliminary Investigation Bureau...entitled ‘Cesar Garcia vs. Ruben Ladia et al,’" Desierto said in his order.