Man slapped with P59-M estafa rap

A businessman facing estafa charges involving P59 million was arrested Thursday afternoon on orders of a Makati City Regional Trial Court (RTC) judge.

Neil Digman, 32, president of Prime Asia Sales and Services, was arrested at around 4 p.m. at his office on Ayala Avenue, based on a warrant issued by Branch 61 Judge Romeo Barza.

Digman posted P40,000 bail for his temporary liberty.

The case was filed by Reynaldo Cipriano of Sucat, Parañaque, a distributor of Caltex, Philippines last March.

In a interview, Cipriano said Digman, who is also a petroleum distributor, has been buying products from him for at least a year.

Upon Digman’s invitation, Cipriano said that in May last year, he made a cash investment of P17-million in the former’s company where he could earn 30 centavos per liter.

"The investment scheme was okay for the first few months," Cipriano said. In fact, Digman delivered three million liters of petroleum, ordered from Caltex, and worth P42 million.

But by December last year, four post-dated checks worth P14 million issued by Digman bounced, prompting him to file the case. – Nikko Dizon