DOJ orders NBI to release ex-PSE employee who allegedly duped investors

Department of Justice. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

It was the Department of Justice (DOJ) who ordered the release of a former employee of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) who allegedly duped stock market investors for over P100 million.

In a three-page resolution, the DOJ ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to release Jose Cecilio Peñaflor, PSE’s former assistant head of market education.

Peñaflor was arrested in an entrapment operation by members of the NBI’s-Anti Organized and Transnational Crime Division (NBI-AOTCD) last Feb. 16 after he asked for an additional P500,000 from an investor.

Peñaflor was then slapped with a complaint for swindling in relation to syndicated estafa before the DOJ.

However, the DOJ said the allegations raised in the complaint refer to previous transactions of the victim Joyce Marie Jao.

The DOJ said the “old” allegations raised in the complaint cannot establish the estafa.

Jao also said that she had an exchange of text messages with Peñaflor and she opened an account with Regina Capital to which Peñaflor’s CAP-M Consultancy Company is connected. Jao said she opened the account to be able to purchase additional high-yielding stocks.

However, the DOJ said the NBI failed to attach the documents mentioned by Jao in her affidavit.

“As such, upon initial evaluation of the assertions and the pieces of evidence presented by Joyce Marie L. Jao in support of her complaint against Peñaflor, there cannot be, as yet, a finding of probable cause for the offense charged. Hence, there is a need to conduct further investigation in order to determine whether there is probable cause to charge respondent with estafa,” the DOJ resolution stated. RAM

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