Court affirms conviction of scam brains

The Court of Appeals. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Court of Appeals has upheld a Makati Regional Trial Court’s conviction of Rosario Baladjay, the brains behind the Multitel pyramiding scam, on two counts of estafa, but modified her sentence by increasing her jail term.

In a Nov. 8 ruling, the CA 8th Division denied Baladjay’s petition for the court to set aside the Nov. 14, 2011, ruling of branch 48 of the Makati regional trial court that convicted her of two counts of estafa in connection with the illegal activities of the Multinational Telecommunications Investors Corp. (Multitel).

The cases stemmed from Multitel’s alleged solicitation of money from the complainants at high interest rates although the company was not authorized to do so. Baladjay did not return the investments amounting to hundreds of thousands of pesos.

In the 13-page ruling authored by Associate Justice Agnes Reyes-Carpio, the appellate court sentenced the businesswoman “to suffer an indeterminate penalty of 10 years and one day of prison mayor to 20 years of reclusion temporal, for each case.”

The lower court had originally sentenced Baldajay to from eight years to 14 years.

Baladjay was also ordered to pay each of the five complainants P20,000 in moral damages and P15,000 in exemplary damages.—Christine O. Avendano

Appellate court reduces jail term of ‘pyramid scam queen’ Rosario Baladjay