BSP may file charges vs De los Angeles by weekend

MANILA, Philippines – A Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) official on Monday said the central bank may file charges against Legacy Group owner Celso de los Angeles Jr. by the end of the week in connection with the collapse of the firm due to alleged illegal diversion of funds using fake loans. At the resumption of the House committee on banks and financial intermediaries hearing, BSP assistant governor Juan de Zuñiga said the cases will be filed after BSP governor Amando Tetangco Jr. shall have reviewed reports from BSP’s field investigators. “Our investigators have come from the field. They spent last week completing their evidence. Right now they are finalizing the report," De Zuñiga said. In response to the inquiry of Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, De Zuñiga said the report will be submitted to Tetangco. The charges may then be filed before the week ends. On the first week of February, the BSP lodged before the Justice department its second wave of charges against Legacy’s officials, but failed to nail down owner De los Angeles, who was not named as an official in any of the four firms named in the complaints. Tetangco said earlier that 116 counts of falsification of public and commercial documents were filed along with two counts of false statements against 18 officers, employees and agents of four rural banks under the Legacy Group. These banks are the Rural Bank of Parañaque, Rural Bank of DARBCI in South Cotabato, Rural Bank of San Jose in Batangas and Bank of East Asia. In Monday’s hearing, De Zuñiga said the BSP is also mulling filing of charges against Manila regional trial court Branch 28 Judge Nina Antonio Valenzuela and Court of Appeals Associate Justices Apolinario Bruselas Jr., Bienvenido Reyes and Mariflor Punzalan-Castillo. The Manila RTC and the appellate court had issued a temporary restraining order and injunction in favor of Legacy Group. The CA's Eighth Division upheld the Valenzuela Decision to stop the BSP and the Monetary Board from imposing sanctions against Legacy’s affiliated banks that allegedly violated several banking rules. “That is under careful consideration," De Zuñiga said when asked by Rodriguez whether the BSP will file charges against the magistrates. “We disagree with their decision. We feel that it is the wrong decision," the BSP official added. De Zuñiga, however, noted that a possible barrier to the filing of charges is that the case is still pending before the Supreme Court. Rodriguez earlier said he had wanted to file administrative charges against the magistrates. He also wanted them to appear before the House panel. Part of syndicate Earlier at the hearing, a letter came up alleging that De los Angeles was a member of a syndicate that has links with several government agencies. The letter, which came from Legacy Group Crime Watch Center’s Ramon Diño, said that “this group is no ordinary syndicate. They (members) are extremely intelligent." De los Angeles belied Diño’s accusations and instead claimed Diño extorted money from him twice. He said Diño tries to extort money before distributing “derogatory information" against him and Legacy Group’s banks. - Johanna Camille Sisante and Sophia Dedace, GMANews.TV