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De los Angeles: BSP coercing Legacy employees vs me


MANILA, Philippines - Faced with possible charges, embattled Legacy Group owner Celso de los Angeles Jr. on Monday hit back at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) by saying BSP investigators have been forcing and coercing lower-level Legacy employees in Cebu to produce evidence against him. In an interview with reporters after the five-hour hearing of the House committee on banks and financial intermediaries on the collapse of the Legacy Group, De los Angeles said BSP investigators have been "threatening" Legacy's lower-level employees in Cebu because of the BSP's "desire to produce indictment against me (De los Angeles)." "Puro coerced, puro nga forced affidavits from employees. Pinupuwersa po nila to produce evidence against me [The affidavits from employees are all coerced and forced. They (the BSP) are forcing the employees to produce evidence against me]," De los Angeles said. During the hearing, BSP Assistant Governor Juan de Zuñiga said the Central Bank may file charges against De los Angeles by the end of the week. De Zuñiga said Central Bank field investigators are just completing their report, which will then be submitted to BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. "Our investigators have come from the field. They spent last week completing their evidence. Right now they are finalizing the report," De Zuñiga said. Fraudulent schemes BSP officials came down hard on De los Angeles during the hearing, with Chuchie Fonacier, BSP's director for integrated supervision department II presenting in a slideshow the Legacy Group's "fraudulent schemes." In their presentation, the BSP said the Legacy Group was involved in orchestrating fictitious loans and overvaluing real estate, among others. In the interview with reporters, De los Angeles countered that the allegedly fraudulent scheme mentioned by the BSP in its presentation were not mentioned in the BSP's past audit reports of his company, which he said he periodically reviews. "I have the audit reports. Wala po yun sa audit reports [Those were not in the audit reports]," De los Angeles said. Upon the motion of Makati City Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr., De los Angeles was ordered by the House panel to present his own explanation of his business model on Tuesday when the committee resumes its hearings on the controversy. There is a reported P14.4 billion in deposits in Legacy's rural banks, at least 12 of which have closed down. The Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) will shoulder P250,000 deposit insurance for each depositor. Meanwhile, plan-holders of the Legacy Group's pre-need firms are reportedly claiming P7 billion total, but Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairperson Fe Barin said the Legacy Group has a trust fund of only P359 million. 'Criminal syndicate' Earlier in the hearing, panel chair and Manila Rep. Jaime Lopez said his committee received a letter from Ramon Diño of the Legacy Group Citizens' Crime Watch Center alleging that De los Angeles is a member of a syndicate that has links with several government agencies. "This group is no ordinary syndicate. They are extremely intelligent, morally deprived and ruthless, and well-connected individuals. We should never never underestimate their clout and connections," Diño said in his letter. Diño said he is "morally convinced" that the "criminal syndicate" is composed of De los Angeles, his inner core of Legacy group officers, and high-ranking government officials from the BSP, SEC, PDIC, and the Monetary Board. He added that the so-called syndicate also includes members of Congress, of the judiciary, of the National Bureau of Investigation, and of the military and the police. Attached to Diño's letter is a 40-page sworn statement dated Feb. 12, 2009 "stating practically all that I (Diño) know about Mr. Celso de los Angeles Jr., and his corporate conglomerate and syndicated swindlers." But De los Angeles, who had alleged in a previous Senate hearing that Diño tried to extort money from him before, belied Diño's accusations and maintained that Diño previously tried to extort money from him twice. The businessman also said that he has pictures to prove Diño was arrested by operatives from the Crime Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in an entrapment operation a few years ago. "He has always been demanding money, your honor," De los Angeles said, explaining that Diño tries to extort money before distributing "derogatory information" against Legacy Group's banks. The judiciary, too De Zuñiga said aside from De los Angeles, charges may also be filed against Manila RTC Branch 28 Judge Nina Antonio Valenzuela and CA Associate Justices Apolinario Bruselas Jr., Bienvenido Reyes and Mariflor Punzalan-Castillo. The Manila RTC and the appellate court had issued a temporary restraining order and injunction in favor of Legacy Group. The CA's Eighth Division upheld the Valenzuela Decision to stop the BSP and the Monetary Board from imposing sanctions against Legacy's affiliated banks that allegedly violated several banking rules. "That is under careful consideration," De Zuñiga said when asked by Cagayan de Oro City. Rep. Rufus Rodriguez whether the BSP will file charges against the magistrates. "We disagree with their decision. We feel that it is the wrong decision," the BSP official added. However, he noted that a possible barrier to the filing of charges is that the case is still pending before the Supreme Court. After much contention between the lawmakers, the House panel reiterated its earlier decision to invite the four members of the judiciary for Tuesday's hearing upon Rodriguez's motion. The decision was made even though Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman had earlier contested the motion, saying the magistrates' decisions speak for themselves. "The decisions will speak for themselves and there is no need for us to invite members of the judiciary to explain the decision," Lagman said, adding that calling members of the judiciary will not be in aid of legislation because Congress does not have the jurisdiction to enact a law prescribing how judges should adjudicate. - GMANews.TV
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