12 complainants file fraud raps vs. Legacy execs

MANILA, Philippines - A new group of pre-need plan holders on Thursday lodged estafa (fraud) charges against officials of several defunct pre-need firms, including businessman Celso de los Angeles Jr., owner of Legacy Consolidated Plans Inc. Charged together with De los Angeles were his wife Maria Concepcion, son Nicolo Martin and mother Purita; and Legacy executives Christine Limpin, Madeline Cobarrubias, Norman Tiongson, Carolina Hiñola, Rita Maniacup, Basilio Ponciano Carpio, Ariel Isberto, Agnes Santiago and Namnam Pasetes-Santos. The complainants were Francisco Obsenares, Ramon Suarez; Indian nationals Narain Ladharam and Sanjay Mahibubani, Haresh Vasandani, Haresh Manwani and Rocky Manwani, Shanker Ramchandani, Sita Ramchandani and Pran Ramchandani, Asha Shamdasani and Kamles Shamdashani, who were also investors in the Legacy Group of Companies. In a 30-page complaint-affidavit, lawyer Joel Ferrer said that De los Angeles and the respondents conspired to dupe them of their investment for a total amount of P187 million. Of the P187 million, only half represents actual investments while the rest were overdue interests. Ferrer said the complainants were recruited to invest their money in one of the nine affiliated companies of Legacy with the promise of an unusually high yield for the investment at a short period of maturity. Francisco Obsenares, principal complainant in the case, said he was persuaded to transfer his savings in Banco de Oro to a time deposit account at the Parañaque Bank, a member of the Legacy Group of Companies. The Parañaque Bank apparently assured Obsenares that his savings would double, a promise that never came true. Ferrer recounted that upon consummation of the investment, the investor was required to execute a deed of assignment, assigning or transferring his rights and interests over the subject investment in favor of yet another of Legacy’s affiliated company in consideration of an amount equivalent to at least double the sum invested payable within three years on a quarterly basis or at time within one year to two years. These corporations were the Legacy Consolidated Asset Holdings, Inc., Fusion Capital Corp., Conventional Realty Corp., Galaxy Realty and Holdings, Inc., One Realty Corp., Shining Armour Property, Inc., Legacy Card, Inc., Legacy Consolidated Plans, Inc., and Legacy Motors, Inc. In addition, the investor was only required to pay the amount equivalent to 90 percent of his total investment with the remaining 10 percent being credited to the investor as and by way of down payment purportedly paid by the assignee. To guarantee the payment of the promised return of the investment made, postdated checks were issued covering the said amounts in accordance with the agreed schedule of payment. However, the companies have ceased operating their business, thus, failing to fulfill their obligations to its investors. “The checks issued in their favor to cover the payment of the principal and interest relative to their investments can no longer be presented for payment considering that the aforementioned companies already closed. As a matter of fact, the said companied have filed a petition for dissolution with the Securities and Exchange Commission," the complaint said. The group paid roughly P150,000 in filing fee, but only Obsenares was named as principal complainant. However, they said that this might pose a problem later on because, should they get an affirmation from the court, they will only be able to collect an amount smaller than their actual investment losses. - Mark Merueňas, GMANews.TV