P5.3-billion estafa case filed vs Legacy owner

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) has filed its biggest syndicated estafa case against businessman Celso de los Angeles Jr. and 21 others for the fraudulent use of P5.37 billion worth of funds by one of the affiliate banks of his controversial Legacy Group.

“This is the biggest case filed so far by PDIC in terms of amount and its 23rd Legacy case,” the PDIC said in a statement. The case has been filed with the Department of Justice, according to the PDIC. The 21 others charged with De los Angeles were officers and personnel of Dynamic Bank of the Legacy Group.

They were Germiniano Noche Jr., Ampere Elman, Flora Bulasag, Danilo Consul, Teofila Garcia, Bartolome Quintana, Emilio Quintana, Vicente Quintana, Analea Galban, Cleofas Ordonia, Brenda Sombillo, Leny Yanoria, Jocelyn Arroyo, Rafael Cueto, Grace Delgado, Emylyn Geli, Carmela Illenberger, Sherwin Masusi, Arnel Ligan, Rizalina Alvez, and Geraldine Palo.

Investigations conducted jointly by PDIC and audit firm Punongbayan & Araullo revealed that the accused created various fictitious loans, including motorcycle loans, and diverted the funds to the savings accounts of Legacy Motors Inc. (LMI) and OneCard Company Inc. (OneCard). 

De los Angeles and his alleged accomplices then withdrew from the savings accounts and created fictitious deposit accounts in the names of various individuals and Legacy-affiliated firms.

Dynamic Bank is one of the 12 failed Legacy-affiliated banks placed under PDIC receivership in December 2008.

Earlier, the PDIC filed three other cases with the DOJ – one for syndicated estafa and two for large-scale estafa – against De los Angeles and Legacy officers and employees.

In one of the large-scale estafa cases – the 20th against the group – De los Angeles and a certain Alexis Petralba allegedly misappropriated some P3.8 billion funds in the Bank of East Asia through the creation of fictitious loans.

In the other large-scale estafa case, De los Angeles, Petralba and Reynaldo Manit allegedly conspired to siphon off P16 million from the closed Rural Bank of Carmen also through the creation of fictitious loans.

The 22nd case filed by PDIC was for syndicated estafa, a non-bailable offense, involving the Legacy-owned Rural Bank of Bais and Pilipino Rural Bank.

In the syndicated estafa case, De los Angeles, Petralba and other officers of the closed RB Bais namely Fernando Rafanan Jr., Ma. Lidonna P. Gabayan, Cecil Ibgos and Joylyn Tandoy allegedly siphoned off P39.78 million from the banks.

The PDIC said more cases are being prepared against the Legacy officials as the P&A continues its forensic audit of the group’s finances.

The Legacy scam is one of the biggest financial frauds in Philippine history, involving 48 banking units across the archipelago and close to P14 billion in insured deposits.

The PDIC earlier announced that it has settled more than half of the almost P14-billion claims from depositors of the 13 banks affiliated with the controversial Legacy Group.

The state deposit insurer has paid P7.8 billion representing 74,779 claims or about 56 percent of the total claims covering 121,354 accounts worth P13.83 billion.

Approved claims as of June 18 amounted to P8.9 billion covering 80,448 depositors while the remaining P4.93 billion involving 40,866 deposit accounts of the Legacy banks are still being verified.