NBI files raps vs corporation responsible for over P1B investment scam

The National Bureau of Investigation on Monday filed a complaint for syndicated estafa before the Quezon City Prosecutors Office against 15 officers of two companies behind the more than P1-billion investment scam.

Named in the complaint are Darlito dela Cruz, Queen Ashley Ablan, Aida-Lyn Gabriel, Arleen dela Cruz, Anthony Purganan, Ernesto Lee Pinera, Jeaun Christopher Tolsa, Joycel Cruz, Angelita Basbas, Mary Jane Terrible, Benadette Villapaz, Mark Anthony Ballesteros, Maytham Mutadha Akbar Abbas, and Mohammad Murtadha Akbar Abbas.

Aside from syndicated estafa, the respondents from Hyper Program International Direct Sales and Trading Corporation/HPI Direct Sales and Trading Corporation are also facing a complaint for violation of Republic Act No. 8799 or the Securities Regulation Code (SRC) and violation of Batas Pambansa Blg. 22 or the Bouncing Check Law.

The case was based on the complaint of engineer Ashraf Mohamed Abdelrahman, an Egyptian national who is a permanent resident in the country and married to a Filipina.

Abdelrahman, in his complaint submitted to the NBI, said that the respondents conspired to convince him to invest the total amount of P38.34 million in the company.

He said he was promised with a 30 percent interest per month for their investments.

The company, Abdelrahman added, is not a licensed investment corporation.

Aldelrahman said was introduced to the investment corporation by a certain Rosana Rivero, a real estate agent of Alveo in Makati City, who told him that she likewise invested in the said corporation.

He was later introduced to Darlito and Ablan, who directed him to meet with Joycel and her husband Abbas, the company’s representatives in Kuwait, to be enlightened more about the investment ventures of Hyper.

After the meeting, the complainant said he invested and signed a notarized memorandum of agreement with Darlito and Ablan and subsequently transferred his investment to Darlito and Abla’s bank account.

“Thereafter, Darlito issued post-dated checks to Ashraf payable until January 2016 under HPI and Darlito’s personal accounts. Complainant received monthly interest for June to September 2015, but for the October check the bank BDO informed him that the HPI account is closed without any prior information from Darlito and Queen Ashley (Ablan),” the complaint said.

“Worse, complainant later discovered that the Department of Finance had already issued a SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) advisory and a cease and desist order issued by the SEC,” it added.

Ashraf said despite repeated demands, the accused failed to pay their obligations to him.

Several other victims of the investment scam opted to file directly a complaint before the QC Prosecutor’s Office while some sought the assistance of the NBI-Anti Fraud and Action Division.