Enrile to Legacy Group boss: Nowhere to go but jail

MANILA, Philippines - Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile on Tuesday said with the pieces of evidence presented against Legacy Group owner Celso de los Angeles Jr., the embattled businessman has nowhere to go but jail. “With the evidence being presented to us, he [De los Angeles] will go to jail," Enrile said, referring to the testimonies and pieces of evidence submitted by former Legacy Consolidated Plans Inc. (LCPI) chairman and president Carolina Hiñola and chief finance officer Namnama Pasetes-Santos during Monday’s Senate hearing on pre-need industry woes. During the hearing conducted by the Committee on Trade and Commerce, Hiñola said De los Angeles transferred the funds from the company to his personal bank accounts and employed schemes to prevent depositors and investors from withdrawing their deposits. Santos accused De los Angeles of using the collapsed firm's funds for his personal use, including medicine and electricity bills, yacht repairs, talent fees for artists during birthday parties, salaries of household helpers, laundry expenses, and newspaper advertisements. She also accused De los Angeles of using company’s funds for his mayoralty bid in Sto. Domingo town in Albay in the 2007 elections, which he eventually won. She said De los Angeles’ travel expenses were also sourced from LCPI's funds. De los Angeles denied the allegations, saying he is ready to waive his right to the secrecy of all his bank accounts to prove that he did not misuse the funds of the companies under LCPI. “Lahat ng aking account, iwe-waive ko [I will waive the right to secrecy of all my bank accounts]," he said in an interview with dzBB radio early Tuesday. De los Angeles also said it was Santos and Hiñola who were responsible for the disbursement of LCPI’s funds. “Ni hindi ako pumipirma ng mga tseke. Sila gumagawa ng cheke, sila pumipirma ng cheke [I have not signed any checks. They are the ones preparing them and signing them]," he said. De los Angeles also said that if he is guilty of anything, it is of being “so trusting" of Hiñola and Santos. Charges Enrile said De los Angeles could be charged with the violation of the Election Code for allegedly spending P38 million of LCPI’s funds for his election campaign. Hinola and Santos also said that De los Angeles still maintained full power and control over LCPI and companies affiliated to it even while serving as mayor of Sto Domingo when he was supposed to have divested his interest in the company. Enrile said De los Angeles also attempted to defraud his creditors when he tried to sell his 5,000-square meter house and lot in Alabang which costs P200 million so that his creditors would not be able to confiscate the said property. “That’s another case against him, he was trying to defraud his creditors," Enrile said. Enrile has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other concerned government agencies to secure the properties and assets of LCPI, including the P200-million house and lot. He said there is a need for the group’s assets to be secured by the SEC so that claimants against LCPI can draw from them in the future. Estafa Last Friday, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has filed its second wave of syndicated estafa charges against De los Angeles and several other officials of the company for allegedly defrauding depositors with some P487 million in deposits from one of LCPI’s 13 failed rural banks. The first wave of syndicated estafa case was filed on February 26 involving P1 billion that De los Angeles and the other respondents allegedly siphoned off LCPI’s Rural Bank of DARBCI, which had offices in General Santos City and Cebu City. On February 6, the BSP accused 18 officers, employees and agents of four rural banks belonging to the LCPI of 116 counts of falsification of public and commercial documents and two counts of false statements. On January 5, the BSP filed criminal charges against 16 officers, employees and agents for 49 counts of falsification of public and commercial documents, and one case each of false reporting and false statement. - GMANews.TV