‘I am innocent’: Dominic Sytin’s brother accuses ex-employee of killing businessman

Denying he masterminded his brother Dominic's murder, businessman Dennis Sytin has accused a "disgruntled" former employee of killing of the United Auctioneers, Inc. CEO instead.

In a counter-affidavit filed Monday, Dennis told prosecutors from the Department of Justice (DOJ) that "overwhelming evidence" shows that Oliver Fuentes, who was also identified in earlier reports as Ryan Rementilla, was behind the murder.

Fuentes, whom Dennis said was Dominic's "trusted" longtime employee before being fired last August for allegedly "padding job orders and pocketing P1 million" from the auction company's collections, is a respondent in the murder complaint.

Dennis also denied that Fuentes introduced him to Edgardo Luib, the alleged gunman, at a beach in Subic in September 2018.

Instead, his counter-affidavit stated that "Oliver contacted Luib, his childhood friend and kumpadre, about the 'contract' to kill Dominic."

Dennis told the investigating prosecutors he "never intended or planned to kill or to have my brother killed," and claimed that he is incapable of murder.

"I deny the charges against me for being false and gravely unjust. I am innocent," he said in the filing. He added that no physical evidence shows his alleged link to the planning and commission of the crime.

Dominic, a businessman and philanthropist whose death prompted statements of condolence and outrage from lawmakers and other prominent individuals, was shot dead in front of a hotel in Subic on November 28 last year.

Dennis was fired as chief operating officer of the family firm for allegedly diverting company funds for his personal use, an accusation he denies, in 2015. He has since put up his own business importing trucks and heavy equipment.

"And no matter our differences, I did not wish [Dominic] ill, more so his death. My differences with him since August 2015 when he fired me from UA, I had accepted for years without incident," he said in the counter-affidavit.

"There was nothing that transpired in 2016, 2017, or 2018, three years thereafter, that would have induced me to kill or have him killed."

Dennis said he cooperated with the police investigation and submitted to a lie detector/polygraph test by the National Bureau of Investigation, which he said found he showed "no specific reaction indicative of deception to questions asked relative to the investigation on the death of Dominic Sytin."

The DOJ's preliminary investigation of the police's murder complaint in connection with Dominic's death will resume on April 15. — BM, GMA News