Colleagues deny human rights lawyer’s involvement in Ponzi scam

MANILA, Philippines - A human rights lawyer among those recommended for prosecution by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in connection with a 500 million-peso scam that victimized a number of individuals including media personality Korina Sanchez had nothing to do with it. Former United Nations Judge and human rights lawyer Romeo Capulong, lead counsel of Marie Yuvienco, said his client, herself a human rights lawyer, had incorporated Power Generation Trading Corporation (Powergen) in 2003 on the request of its organizers, but had nothing to do with either its operations or the scam allegedly perpetrated by some of its officers. Yuvienco is listed as corporate secretary of Powergen, of which the alleged scam perpetrators are officers and incorporators. Powergen is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as a company trading in fuels and energy resources. Capulong, president of the human rights lawyers’ group Public Interest Law Center where Yuvienco was a leading member until she went into private practice, said that “the PILC and the human rights legal community are behind Atty. Yuvienco because we know she is a citizen and lawyer of unquestioned integrity." Among the human rights cases in which Yuvienco assisted Capulong or was herself the lead counsel were the impeachment trial of Joseph Estrada, the class suit against Ferdinand Marcos of the human rights victims of martial law, the cases filed by the Payatas dump slide victims, the cases filed by 2000 peasant family victims of land- grabbing in Hacienda Looc in Nasugbu, Batangas, and the Flor Contemplacion case. “Lawyers are often asked to help incorporate companies, and it’s common for them to be nominal directors and even corporate secretaries of the companies they help incorporate. In this particular case, my former PILC partner Marie Yuvienco was listed as corporate secretary of Powergen because she had incorporated it as part of her normal responsibilities as a lawyer. She had nothing to do with the illegal activities some of the company’s officers allegedly carried out," Capulong said. Capulong said none of the complainants in the case ever mentioned Yuvienco as involved in the Ponzi scheme allegedly perpetrated by Powergen’s other officers. A Ponzi scheme offers high short-term returns to entice investors. The high returns the scheme promises and actually pays, at least at the start, require an ever-increasing flow of money from investors to keep the scheme going. The system eventually collapses. “Although Yuvienco is nominally listed as corporate secretary, she had no involvement in the scheme and in fact had no dealings with the complainants," Capulong said. “The National Bureau of Investigation mentions only some of the incorporators and officers of Powergen as allegedly involved, as specified by the complainants." The NBI specifically mentioned one couple in the corporation as the ones who enticed their friends and acquaintances to invest in Powergen with the promise of a guaranteed net profit of between six percent and eight percent monthly or almost 76 percent to 96 percent per annum interest with the option to pull out of the investment. Another couple would then get the money from investors by informing them that there are bulk orders for fuel or oil products through phone or text messaging. They would then instruct the investors to make deposits to their accounts or issue checks. They would not issue receipts but would issue the investors two postdated checks, one corresponding to the amount of the principal and the other to the profit. Yuvienco was not mentioned as being involved in the alleged scam, either by the complainants or by the NBI. Capulong said there is no basis for the inclusion of Yuvienco in the list of those persons the NBI is recommending for prosecution. The NBI had earlier recommended the prosecution of 24 incorporators and officers of Powergen including Yuvienco. - GMANews.TV