SEC uncovers 4 more Glasgow accounts

Here’s good news for investors of Glasgow Credit and Collection Services Inc.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has uncovered four more accounts of Glasgow in several banks, making these funds available for distribution to over 9,000 investors.

An SEC official said investors may now get 79 percent of their principal investments back, slightly higher than the earlier announced figure of 67 to 68 percent.

The official refused to divulge the names of the banks where Glasgow’s funds were recently frozen. He, however, said the money deposited in these banks would bring the total value of accessible funds to P800 million from only P600 million.

The funds will be shared equally by investors, pro-rated against their original investments.

It will be recalled that the company’s accounts in Hongkong Shanghai Banking Corp., Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., Citystate Savings Bank and International Export Bank were frozen by the Anti-Money Laundering Council in August this year.

The SEC wanted to return the money of Glasgow’s investors as soon as possible, but there were still questions on how to handle the amount of disputed claims.

According to the SEC’s Compliance and Enforcement Department, validated claims — those representing the amount invested in Glasgow less interest payments — amounted to P893 million. The money came from 9,121 investors.

There were some 625 investors, however, who claimed that they invested around P141.39 million but their names were not on the list of investors submitted to the SEC by Glasgow.

There were also 1,168 individuals and groups in the Glasgow list who supposedly had a net investment of some P126.8 million but they too were not on the list of investors that filed claims with the SEC.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, a member of the AMLC, earlier said the SEC would have to ensure that only legitimate owners get their money back.

Glasgow’s total collections reached P1.16 billion from over 9,000 individuals and corporations during the firm’s four months of operations from March 11 to July 11.

Listed as incorporators of Glasgow are Manuel Roldan Jr., Radicion Baldia, Jenilyn Condes, Jonathan Condes, and Roldan Estacio.

The SEC is now preparing a criminal complaint against Glasgow for selling shares to the public without prior registration with the Commission.

It is also preparing to institute revocation proceedings against Glasgow to prevent the company from further defrauding the public.

Glasgow was issued a cease-and-desist order by the SEC for failing to offer securities to the public without license from the SEC in violation of the Securities Regulation Code (SRC).

Based on the SEC’s investigation, Glasgow has been promising investors monthly interest of 15 percent for a minimum placement of P50,000 for six months plus the return of their investment at the end of the six-month period. Investments of less than P50,000 were promised the same terms and conditions with a slightly lower interest rate of 10 percent a month for the same period.

Upon signing of the contract, Glasgow would issue seven post-dated checks to the investor covering the six monthly interest payments and the principal.

SEC said the investment contracts issued by Glasgow to investors fall under the SRC’s definition of securities and should, therefore, have been registered with the Commission prior to distribution to the public.

An investment contract is defined under the SRC as a "contract, transaction or scheme . . . whereby a person invests his money in a common enterprise and is led to expect profits primarily from the efforts of others.