Tomas Syquia, head of the SEC’s Compliance and Enforcement Department, warned the public anew against investing in the AVA group, which offers investors a 10-percent interest monthly for 10 months for a minimum placement of P20,000.
The warning was issued following the filing of a complaint by some 300 investors against the AVA group with the National Bureau of Investigation for having duped them of some P70 million in bouncing checks.
The P70 million supposedly represented the accumulated interest of the money they invested in AVG.
The complainants asked the NBI to investigate AVG president Alfredo Gomez and vice president Anna Lee Dayanghirang.
In their complaint with the NBI, investors said that Gomez and Dayanghirang allegedly paid them their dues with postdated checks which all bounced leaving them in the dark as the suspects, including their staff, disappeared without a trace.
Complainants said AVG’s office in Kalaw Street in Manila had already been abandoned and that the suspects were ejected from their condominium units in San Juan for their failure to pay the monthly rent.
Also, the complainants said they heard reports that the suspects were planning to leave the country evade arrest and prosecution, prompting the NBI to alert the Bureau of Immigration.
Gomez and Dayanghirang are facing charges of syndicated estafa, violation of SEC regulations and law, and non-payment of monthly office rent.
AVG is not registered with the SEC and is neither licensed to engage in the business as broker nor dealer of securities.
Gomez, however, denied any wrongdoing and stressed that AVG was not involved in any scam. He said that he would answer all charges leveled against him.