DOJ asked to clear Sec2000 in BW case

The Securities2000, one of the country's premier securities brokers, has asked the Department of Justice to dismiss charges against it filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the alleged insider trading and price manipulation of the controversial BW Resources shares.

The brokerage house denied having engaged in "wash sales" for and in behalf of presidential friend Dante Tan and had asked the DOJ to clear it from any involvement in the meteoric rise and fall of BW share prices.

Through its lawyers, Securities2000 admitted that Tan has been trading with Sec2000 since it started its business in the country in May 1997.

In its comments submitted to the DOJ special investigating panel headed by Assistant Chief prosecutor Nilo Mariano, the Abello, Concepcion, Regala & Cruz Law Office also admitted that from 1997 to 1999, Tan had made significant trade through Sec2000 in various listed shares other than BW shares.

But Sec2000, in effecting the specific instructions of Tan to sell BW shares, had no knowledge of information whatsoever about the identity of the real or ultimate buyer, or about any alleged illicit arrangements, between the parties.

"Thus there is utterly no basis to conclude that the transactions it brokered were in the nature of 'wash sales,'" the lawyer said.

"Sec2000's transaction with Mr. Tan were all done legitimately in the regular course of business," the lawyers added.

Under the law, a "wash sale" transaction is unlawful only if it was made for the purpose of creating a false or misleading appearance of active trading of a particular security. Furthermore, fraud on the part of the firm should be established.