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Sun star CebuCebu losers in E-fund ‘scam’: at least 60 people with P1M, April 9, 2003“AT LEAST 60 Cebuano investors lost more than P1 million to E-fund Capital Management Inc., according to a list of investors gathered by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) 7. The CIDG 7 is preparing to file charges of estafa against E-fund’s owner, manager and secretary. The owner and manager remain at large, while the secretary appeared for questioning at the CIDG 7 last Monday. Sun.Star is withholding the identities of the three persons until it gets their side or until formal charges are filed. The three, however, could be spared of charges of violating the E-commerce Law, which might not apply in the scam, a Manila-based lawyer and the head of an Internet commerce group said. Lawyer JJ Disini said the Revised Penal Code, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations and the law on obligations and contracts are the most appropriate laws to be used against E-fund Capital Management. Disini said estafa could be one of the cases that can be filed by the investors against E-fund Capital Management. “If there was fraud committed electronically, you can still use the Revised Penal Code for this,” he said. And since E-fund Capital Management is not registered with the SEC, the firm already committed a violation, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) 7 Director Asteria Caberte said. They are checking with the SEC national office for E-fund Capital’s registration. Aside from the owners, the agents of E-fund Capital Management can also be sued, said Janette Toral, who founded the Internet Commerce Society. “Its agents can also be charged by those who signed up to be part of the network, especially if the subsequent subscribers feel that the agent misled them,” she said. CIDG 7 investigator Insp. Benjamin Pepino met with DTI and SEC representatives yesterday morning to discuss the matter. Both the CIDG 7 and SEC are separately looking into the complaints of the investors that they feel they have been duped when they could no longer access the website of E-fund Capital. The CIDG 7 is handling the criminal aspect, while the SEC is looking into violations made by the company. The total amount invested by the 60 Cebuano investors on the CIDG 7 list reached $22,400 or P1,192,800. The CIDG 7 believes there are about 1,000 investors in Cebu alone. A website maintained by an investor based in Dumaguete City claims there are 8,000 investors of E-fund in Manila, Cebu, Davao, Baguio and Dumaguete. Disini and Toral said the investors could also be blamed for not taking precautionary measures before putting up a capital for E-fund Capital Management. “It is the consumer that should have taken safeguards. Our consumers should know better by now, but unfortunately a lot are still victimized by get-rich-quick schemes,” Toral said. Toral is also baffled at how the E-fund was able to open a bank account when it has no business documents to show. “Banks should be more than careful in accepting any clients, especially if they are prominent banks. The banks should also analyze new accounts and monitor their activity to see if there’s unusual movement or inflow of money based on its nature of business,” Toral added. The CIDG 7 is expected to submit a report to the SEC, which the agency will then submit to its central office. According to CIDG 7 chief investigator Enrique Lacerna, they are coordinating with the SEC and DTI so the agencies can inspect the offices of E-fund and find evidence that can be used against the three persons. Since the business does not involve pyramiding of a product or commodity, Caberte said the SEC is the agency better equipped to handle the investigation because the company is accepting investments. Caberte is hoping the other E-fund investors and those who had information about E-Fund will surface and help CIDG 7 and SEC with their investigation. As for the whereabouts of E-fund’s Malaysian owner, lawyer Leobarlo Enad, chief legal division of the Bureau of Immigration, said the records only showed that the Malaysian national left Cebu for Hong Kong last March 23. The E-fund website stopped operating last March 26. There are also records of the Malaysian’s arrival dated March 17, Aug. 11 and June 26 last year but no records of his departures. They suspect that the Malaysian came to Cebu via direct flights and departed for abroad via Manila, which could explain why they have no records of him leaving Cebu. Investors were attracted to place their money with E-fund after they
were informed that for every $100, they were assured of a $300 annual
return.” |
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