Boholano commissioner says: SEC duped into approving Aman business registration — Sec exec

TAGBILARAN CITY, Philippines  – The Securities and Exchange Commission appeared to have been duped when it approved the Aman Future Groups Philippines’ registration for “trading” business, said SEC commissioner Eadio Jala in an exclusive interview.

Jala, former congressman of the 3rd district of Bohol, told The Freeman that what the SEC had granted was for trading and not for “investment.” He said trading is different from investment. The former deals with “buy and sell” while the latter on “soliciting investment,” he said.

The Aman Future Group Philippines just did it by asking for investments from prospective investors that turned out to be a large-scale pyramiding scam, just like the Legacy Groups of then Celso de los Santos, he said.

An earlier report stated how the Aman scheme worked: It solicited huge sums of money from residents in the area where it operates with a promise to invest the money in a Malaysian oil company and a promise of 100 percent return of their investment.

The scam was not immediately noticed, Jala said, since some of the investors did not report it to agency concerned for fear they might not be paid of their returns, not until the breaking point, Jala said, while admitting that it took some time for SEC to detect because it has no branch in Pagadian City, where a lot of victims resided.

Reports said the SEC has found these violations on the part of Aman: Engaging in commodity future contracts despite a prohibition by the SEC; non-registration as broker or dealer but acting as such; non-registration of securities sold as investment contracts; and engaging in activities that are “off tangent” with company’s primary purpose as a general trading company.

Because of these, SEC has issued a cease and desist order (CDO) and filed a complaint against Aman for alleged “double your money investment scheme as a Ponzi scam.”

Jala said the SEC has already warned the public to be very careful in putting their hard-earned money in investment or a high-profit investment that is too good to be true.

The SEC is now planning to put up “regions” in Mindanao next year to monitor the movements of the Aman and this is part of its plan for next year, including information and education campaign, said the Boholano commissioner of SEC.

Jala said SEC is suspecting that some local government officials may have used the government money or fund in investing with Aman but this has to be probed and proved in court. He also said there might be some fellow Boholanos who fell prey to the Aman scheme.

Congress is conducting probe in aid of legislation to find out possible infringing of the laws such as the “Anti-Money Laundering Act” or RA 9150 and the Securities Regulation Code or Republic Act 8799, reports said. —  (FREEMAN)