KAPA officials slapped with criminal complaint over alleged investment scam

MANILA, Philippines —The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday filed criminal complaints against the executives of KAPA Community Ministry International Inc. for operating an alleged fraudulent investment scheme.

The SEC accused KAPA founder and president Joel Apolinario and several of its officials for "perpetrating an investment scam" that is in violation of the Securities and Regulation Code.

“The Commission found KAPA to have enticed the public to ‘donate’ at least P10,000 in exchange for a 30% monthly ‘blessing’ or ‘love gift’ for life, without having to do anything other than invest and wait for the payout,” the SEC said in a statement.

EXPLAINER: Too good to be true: Why the government is shutting KAPA down

The SEC also said KAPA has employed a Ponzi scheme, which is a program that would offer “impossibly high returns and pays investors using the money contributed by other investors.”

This is in violation of Section 26 of the Securities and Regulations Code, the commission said.

Others who are named as respondents in the complaint are:

• Margie Danao, KAPA’s trustee
• Reyna Apolinario, KAPA’s corporate secretary
• Marisol Diaz
• Adelfa Fernandico
• Moises Mopia
• Catherine Evangelista
• Rene Catubigan

Diaz, Fernandico, Mopia, Evangelista and Catubigan were included in the complaint for “promoting the investment scam,” the SEC said.

More respondents will also be named as respondents as the commission continues to identify other persons who participated in the “unlawful public offering and/or selling of securities” by KAPA, the commission added.

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Freeze order

The SEC said it issued an advisory against KAPA as early as March 2017. A cease and desist order was also issued against it on February 14.

On April 3, the commission revoked KAPA’s certificate of registration.

The SEC, on June 10, said it secured a freeze order on several bank accounts and other assets of KAPA.

The Court of Appeals issued the order, which covers more than P100 million worth of the KAPA’s assets, as it acted on the petition filed by the SEC and the Anti-Money Laundering Council.

Early in June, President Rodrigo Duterte said he wants KAPA—which is Bisaya for “make the poor rich—shut down. The Surigao del Sur-based group reportedly promised a 30-percent monthly return to members who donate money, a scheme which Duterte said is “too good to be true.”