NICA chief’s wife charged with estafa

LUCENA CITY, Philippines – Seven persons, including the wife of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) chief, were charged with estafa for allegedly luring two construction companies to invest millions in a non-existent firm. 

The complaint, filed last Nov. 28 by Luis Baldoz, president of Big Five Corp. and Erwin Prado, representing R.C. Tagala Construction, named as respondents Cynthia Cielo and Bernardo Cielo, both residents of Pasay City; George Cofreros and Luis Gonzales of Quezon City; Danilo Navarro of Cainta; Christopher Gonzaga of Negros Occidental;  and Ma. Nenita Sodusta, of Iloilo City, the wife of NICA chief Jeffrey Sodusta.

Baldoz and Prado said they invested P800,000 and P1.6 million, respectively and hundreds of thousand of pesos in representation and design expenses in a business venture supposed to be financed by a Hong Kong-based company, Sun City Capital Investment Corp. Ltd. 

The complainants said the respondents identified themselves as officers of Dumangas Integrated Aqua Green System Corp., and told them they would put up a P2.2-million aquaculture building in Iloilo City.  The group presented various communications from Sun City to prove that the Hong Kong-based company is determined to do business in Iloilo City.

The victims said they fell prey to the alleged investment scam because the NICA chief was always present during their meetings with the group. They said the respondents claimed they were also victims and were not aware that Sun City was a bogus company.