Justice Secretary Leila de Lima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
Before it could flourish and dupe more victims like Aman Futures and the Rasuman Group, government operatives on Monday moved to nip in the bud a “newly sprouting pyramiding entity” also operating in Pagadian City.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima announced the arrest Monday of a woman working for Visioner 2020 Trader’s Inc., which like Aman Futures and the Rasuman Group, was taking people’s hard-earned money by offering them huge returns.
Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) arrested Glenda Anganan in an entrapment operation in Tiguma, Pagadian City, after she received P30,000 in marked money.
“The NBI neutralized the group immediately so it won’t be able to do much damage,” De Lima told a news conference, adding that she was waiting for the full NBI report on the operations of Visioner.
De Lima said the new investment firm had already victimized 20 to 30 people, reportedly mostly Maranaos from Lanao del Sur, to whom it offered a 30-percent return on their investments.
She expressed amazement that people continued to fall prey to investment scams even with news reports about Aman Futures and Rasuman hogging the headlines.
Gov’t can only warn
“Government can only help those that want to be helped … I think this is a serious societal problem,” she said, noting that the government can only issue “stern warnings and advisories” on the Ponzi scam to the public.
The Department of Justice chief held a press conference after meeting with NBI officials led by Director Nonnatus Rojas to get an update on the pursuit operations against fugitive Aman Futures officials.
Arrests looming
De Lima said she expected arrest warrants against 38 to 40 officials of Aman Futures to be issued “within the next few days” now that the government was ready to file 11 “very ripe” complaints against them. Five of the complaints were from Cagayan de Oro City while the six others from Pagadian City.
She said that aside from the 38 Aman Futures officials, two more officials will be added to the lookout bulletin order.
De Lima also reported that only two Aman Futures officials—its top man Manuel Amalilio and Fernando Luna—had passports. The rest of the officials had no passports. She said this meant the others had not attempted to leave the country “unless they had done so through the back door.”
Evaluation
De Lima also revealed that some Aman Futures officials had sent surrender feelers but so far “nothing has yet materialized.”
She did not want to disclose developments in the government’s bid to have Amalilio deported from Malaysia to face charges here.
The justice secretary also said steps were being taken to seize the assets of Aman Futures, which victimized more than 15,000 peple of P12 billion. She did not elaborate.
She also said they would still have to evaluate whether Aman financial manager Donna Koyme, who had executed a statement on the operations of Aman Futures, could be made a state witness in the case.
“It really will depend on the evaluation. But she knows a lot,” De Lima said of Koyme, who surrendered voluntarily and is in the custody of the NBI.