SEC gives Glasgow officials chance to air side

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will give officials of Glasgow Credit and Collection Services Inc. a chance to air their side on July 24, and clear the issues behind allegations the company is involved in an investment scam.

The SEC issued a cease-and-desist order (CDO) against Glasgow last Friday on complaints it has been selling investment contracts without license and luring clients on "get-rich-quick" schemes by reportedly giving a huge 15 percent monthly interest on six-month money placements of between P10,000 to P50,000.

Glasgow along with ICS Exports Inc., earlier tagged as another pseudo-investment firm, have allegedly duped its investors – mostly from the ranks of the police and the military – billions of pesos in less than a year of operations.

Glasgow lawyers have filed with the SEC a motion to lift the July 12 CDO, which stemmed from an earlier freeze order of its bank accounts issued last July 9 by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLAC) on suspicions that the firm is into "dirty money" operations.

In issuing the CDO, the SEC said Glasgow has been operating illegally from the start since it is not authorized or licensed to engage in investment contracts, having been incorporated merely as a credit and collection company.

Mariano Santiago, Glasgow legal counsel, has refuted the allegations against the company, saying it has been operating legally and that its funds – including those from its clients – are intact in the various depository banks, with no cases yet of any withdrawal by depositors. Its depository banks are HSBC, RCBC, CityState Savings Bank and International Export Bank.

Santiago said one of the banks complained to the Philippine National Police to investigate Glasgow’s operations leading to the freeze order by the AMLAC, but pointed out the complainant bank itself has been having problems itself and may have resorted to the freeze order in order to hold on to Glasgow’s substantial deposits to buffer whatever problems it is encountering. – Conrado Diaz Jr.