SC approves filing of criminal raps vs Urban Bank execs

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court on Thursday approved the filing of criminal charges against executives of the defunct Urban Bank in connection with alleged illegal disbursements of bank funds amounting to P4.5 billion that led to its closure. In a two-page resolution, the SC's Second Division dismissed the petition filed by Urban Bank officials, namely, Nida S. Santos, Milagros Santiago, Rowena E. Punzalan, Chulla M. Formanes, Loida O. Payonga and Amalisa Ordas, seeking a reversal of the Court of Appeals' ruling that ordered their prosecution for estafa. The high court said that petitioners failed to prove that the CA's Seventh Division committed grave abuse of discretion when it reversed and set aside the decision of the Regional Trial Court of Makati City ordering the dismissal of the criminal cases against them. In the complaint filed by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC), Urban Bank officials conspired in misappropriating more than P4 billion constituting funds solicited from its depositors by purchasing substandard loan receivables from its subsidiary Urban Corporation Investments Inc. (UII), without the knowledge and consent of the directors and stockholders of UBI and UII. After siphoning off the amount from the UBI, the complainants said the bank officers declared a bank holiday to the prejudice of its depositors and creditors. In an earlier ruling, the CA noted that probable cause has been sufficiently established by the Department of Justice (DOJ) panel of prosecutors, the Secretary of Justice and Makati court judges who initially handled the cases. Thus, the CA ordered the lower court to reinstate the information and proceed with the hearing of the cases. The petitioners insisted that the allegations contained in the pieces of information filed against them were insufficient to charge the crime of estafa under 315 of the Revised Penal Code. - GMANews.TV