Delfin Lee to talk about ‘real issues’ behind estafa case once out on bail

The Supreme Court decision that allowed property developer Delfin Lee to post bail is an opportunity to sit down with the new officers of the Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF) and discuss the real issues behind the case, his lawyer said Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the High Court downgraded the complaint of syndicated estafa filed against Lee to simple estafa, allowing him to post bail.

“We welcome the decision of the Supreme Court where it downgraded the charge against my client, Mr. Delfin Lee from syndicated estafa to simple estafa,” said Lee’s lawyer Rony Garay.

“According to my client, this is the right opportunity to sit down with the new officers of the Home Development Mutual Fund so that they may be enlightened as to the real and true issues behind this legal battle which adversely affected the homeowners of the Xevera Mabalacat and Bacolor township projects of Globe Asiatique Realty Holdings Corp.,” Garay added.

Garay said the  pronouncement of the Supreme Court in Lee’s case is a reiteration of the prevailing jurisprudence that to be liable for syndicated estafa, certain requirements must be met, namely: that the alleged victim, which in this case is the PAG-IBIG Fund, should not be the one that solicited funds from the general public; and that the respondents or the accused should either be owners, officers or employees of the entity or corporation that solicited funds from the general public.

In this case, however, Garay said Lee’s company, Globe Asiatique which got involved in the case, “never solicited funds from the general public.”

He pointed out that Globe Asiatique “is a legitimate real estate company which responded to the government’s call  for active private sector’s participation in providing low cost and quality houses to our people, both with formal employers and self-employed.”  /muf