AMLC ordered to pay P16 M to pyramid scam victims

MANILA, Philippines - The Court of Appeals (CA) has ordered the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to pay over P16 million in claims to two victims of a pyramiding scheme.

In a 14-page decision, the former 11th division of the appellate court affirmed a decision issued by Branch 132 of the Regional Trial Court of Manila on Jan. 31, 2012. It denied the petition of the AMLC questioning the RTC order.

The amount would be drawn from the forfeited assets of scam mastermind Conrado Ariola.

In upholding the Manila RTC’s order, the CA debunked AMLC’s argument that it was denied due process when the court approved the victims’ claim without its comment.

The CA noted that complainants Teresita Corpus and Teresita Gomez waited seven months for the AMLC to comment on their petition before they moved for the trial court’s approval of their claim.

“In this case, the records will bear that the Republic was duly notified of its right to file a comment on the petition. Where a party had been afforded an opportunity to participate in the proceedings but failed to do so, it cannot complain of deprivation of due process,” read the ruling penned by Associate Justice Magdangal de Leon.

“Due process is satisfied as long as the party is accorded an opportunity to be heard, even if it is not availed,” it added.

Concurring with the ruling were Associate Justices Stephen Cruz and Myra Garcia-Fernandez.

The Manila RTC, in its order, approved the uncontested claim of Corpus and Gomez worth P4.72 million and P11.79 million, respectively.

Corpus and Gomez were among the victims of multi-billion investment schemes of the Ariola group.

They were tapped by the AMLC as witnesses in the forfeiture case against the Ariola group.

Ariola was chief executive officer of Multinational Telecoms Investors Corp. (Multitel) and marketing head of Five Vision Consultancy, Inc. (FVCI), reportedly used by his group to dupe investors of billions of pesos.

Ariola and his wife Patrocinia were blamed by Multitel president Rosario Baladjay as the ones responsible for the collapse of the investment company.

During the trial of the anti-money laundering case, Corpus and Gomez testified for the government, claiming that they were induced by Ariola’s group into investing a substantial amount of their savings in FVCI with a promise of high return on their investments.

It was only later that they realized that the investment scheme was a fraud.

As determined by the trial court, the total amounts invested by Corpus and Gomez reached P4.72 million and P11.79 million, respectively. On Jan. 11, 2011, the trial court ruled in favor of the government and ordered the forfeiture of the assets of Ariola, et al.  Corpus and Gomez sought the payment of their claims from the forfeited assets.

They noted that the failure of the government to file its comment or opposition to their petition despite the lapse of more than 15 days is a “tacit admission of the validity of their claims.”

On Jan. 31, 2012, the trial court ruled in favor of Corpus and Gomez and issued an order approving their claim. This prompted the AMLC to appeal the ruling before the CA.