Kapa leaders a no-show at DOJ hearing

Leaders of Kapa Community Ministry International Inc. accused of running a large-scale investment scam were a no show on Monday at the Department of Justice (DOJ) for the preliminary investigation of their case.

Instead, Kapa founder and president Joel Apolinario and three other officers were represented by their lawyers who submitted their joint counter-affidavit against charges that they violated the Securities Regulation Code (Republic Act No. 8799).

According to their counsels, Apolinario, Kapa corporate secretary Reyna Apolinario and officers Rene Catubigan and Catherine Evangelista could not personally appear before the DOJ for “security reasons.”

The DOJ panel chaired by Assistant State Prosecutor Zenamar Machacon-Caparros allowed the four respondents to subscribe to their affidavits before the Sarangani provincial prosecutor.
But the lawyers refused to give copies of the affidavits to the media.

Kapa trustee Margie Danao and officers Marisol Diaz and Adelfa Fernandico neither showed up nor sent lawyers to represent them.
In a complaint filed before the DOJ last June 18, the SEC accused Kapa of selling or offering to sell securities without registration from the SEC and selling these without license.
The SEC said Kapa perpetrated a Ponzi scheme that offered hefty returns of as much as 30 percent a month to early investors using the money contributed by later investors.

SEC chair Emilio Aquino said Kapa “amassed wealth through an investment scam in the guise of religion and at the expense of the investing public.”

The SEC filed the complaint after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the closure of the organization.