PIPC execs to face charges anew over investment scam

MANILA, Philippines - State prosecutors will file additional estafa charges against officials of Performance Investment Products Corp. (PIPC) in what is considered to be the biggest investment scam in the country’s history. This time, the government will anchor its evidence on the testimony of elite investors, part of a larger group that was defrauded of up to P2 billion, Senior State Prosecutor Philip I. Kimpo said. In a resolution written by Mr. Kimpo, the panel of probers recommended the filing of estafa charges against company owners and directors Michael H.K. Liew, Ma. Cristina B. Jurado, Ernesto C. Sy and Cristina G. Tuason. Also included in the charge sheet are employees and agents Manuel Gonzalez, Barbara Garcia, Anthony Kierulf, Nicole Ortega, Mayenne Carmona, Oudine Santos, Ma. Pamela Morris, Nicoline Amoranto-Mendoza, Maricar Gonzalez, Christine Yu, Victor Jose Vergel De Dios, Jay Tengco, Jimbo Aragon, Janice Silvestre, Stanley and David Chua-Unsu. Prosecutors said these workers did not conspire with the owners to commit the crime, but were mere accessories. The resolution was not clear if they will be charged with syndicated estafa, which is nonbailable and punishable by life imprisonment, or simple estafa, which carries a maximum jail term of 30 years. The complainants, which included Montserrat Romulo Tantoco, Alejandro Montinola Recto and Nenita Ramos Licaros, alleged that they had been lured into shelling out at least $40,000 for high-yield debt instruments. The complainants claimed they had been defrauded of $1.5 million. Prosecutors had also indicted PIPC officials and workers based on a complaint filed by investors Jose E. Picorn and El Paraiso Farms, Inc. "The crux of the complaint is respondent Liew... scurried off and took [the] private complainants’ money with him, leaving behind the corporation empty-handed," the resolution said. The panel said the act of the corporation, which was used to dupe people of their money, would be regarded as the act of its individual stockholders. — I.P. Pedrasa, BusinessWorld