NBI nabs HK Securities executives for estafa

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Tuesday morning arrested four officers and directors of brokerage firm HK Securities Inc. for syndicated estafa. Acting on the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) order, the NBI arrested Rodolfo V. Cruz, Cecilia F. Cruz, Primalee Cruz-Cordero, and Abelardo R. Cordero at the Cruz residence in Quezon City, the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) said in an emailed statement. The accused are now detained at the NBI main office in Manila. The DOJ has designated senior state prosecutor Peter Ong to actively prosecute the criminal cases against those accused. In an order last December, DOJ Secretary Leila de Lima asked the Philippine National Police and the NBI to immediately arrest the HK Securities executives. In 2008, clients of HK Securities filed several complaints of syndicated estafa with the DOJ. The respondents, including other non-executive directors, were then alleged to have engaged in a number of fraudulent transactions involving the complainants’ funds and securities. The PSE took over HK Securities’ operations as ordered by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in September 2008 after the company failed to account for and produce its clients’ securities valued at P106 million. Failed to settle short position HK Securities and its principal stockholder, Rodolfo V. Cruz, tried to come up with the money to cover the short position but failed to settle the amount, the PSE said. Before taking over HK Securities, the PSE Market Regulation Division (MRD) suspended its license to trade based on various violations of securities laws uncovered during the division’s audit of HK Securities. The MRD then ordered that HK Securities be expelled from the PSE, among other sanctions imposed for the said violations. HK Securities has appealed the sanctions. The PSE is in the process of liquidating the trade-related assets of HK Securities and distributing — pro-rata or proportionately — the proceeds to people claiming the brokerage owes them money. — With Paterno Esmaquel II/VS, GMA News