BW suspects arraigned May 8

Seven of the co-accused of businessman Dante Tan will be arraigned on May 8 at the Pasig City court on charges that they violated some provisions of the Revised Securities Act in connection with the 1999 BW stock manipulation scam.

Assistant Chief State Prosecutor Nilo Mariano said Raul de Castro, Federico Galang, Emmanuel Go, Jimmy and Mario Juan, Hermogenes Ladarran and Edgardo Lim Jr. will be arraigned on May 8 at 8:30 am before the sala of Judge Amelia Fabros.

The court has ordered the Bureau of Immigration to issue a hold-departure order against Tan, a crony of deposed President Joseph Estrada, and his co-accused. Tan could not be found, however, and has been reported to have fled to Canada.

It was only Tan, among all of the accused, who did not post bail in the charges of wash sales, matched orders, and marking the close and abuse of equity trade facility.

"We have received reports he is in the country, but nobody seems to have seen him around. That’s why no bail was posted on his behalf. We are still trying to verify whether Tan is here," Justice Secretary Hernando Perez said.

"It is settled that the constitutional right to travel is not absolute, nor is it inflexible. The inherent power or right of the court to prohibit a person admitted to bail from leaving the Philippines has in fact been recognized by the Supreme Court," said Fabros.

A panel of prosecutors filed four charges — wash sales, matched orders, marking the close and abuse of equity trade facility, all violations of the Revised Securities Act — against the eight individuals before the Pasig City regional trial court.

Tan, former president of BW Resources Corp. which allegedly engaged in price stock manipulation between March and October 1999, reportedly fled to Canada after Estrada was ousted by the people power II in January 2001.

BW minority stockholder Jimmy Juan was earlier indicted for "non-disclosure" while Lim was sued for "violation of the broker-director rule," he being an official of BW and Belson Securities Inc.

The panel of prosecutors, led by Mariano, recommended a P120,000 bail on Tan’s charges while a P40,000 bail each was set for Juan and Lim. Each violation carries a maximum prison term of 21 years.

The Mariano panel earlier dismissed the charges of wash sales, insider trading, matched orders, abuse in the use of private placements, equity trade and done-through-transaction due to the "insufficient evidence" submitted by the SEC.

Held liable for wash sales were Tan, De Castro, Galang and Co. For matched orders, charged were Tan, Jimmy and Mario Juan and Ladarran. As for marking the close, Tan and De Castro were held liable while Tan, Lim, Ladarran and Mario Juan were held liable for equity trade facility.

Prosecutors also found initial evidence to indict the seven for "syndicated estafa," a non-bailable offense, but explained that this will be the subject of "further investigation."

"For employing such a fraudulent scheme that deceived legitimate investors in BW shares, they should be subjected to further investigation in order to determine and specify the damages suffered by the investing public," the resolution stated.

Tan and his cohorts, according to the justice department, "tricked and deceived numerous investors into buying BW shares only to lose their investments, and which also caused damage to the stock market in general."

Government prosecutors said they conspired to cause artificial stock sales that caused the price of BW shares to skyrocket by more than 5,000 percent from March to October 1999.

The stock plummeted, however, on the very day the BW officials announced that Macau-based casino mogul Stanley Ho had taken a minority stake and had been elected chairman of the board.