Legacy used Hacienda Busay to misappropriate Nation Bank funds

The Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) filed another syndicated estafa case against Legacy Group owner Celso G. delos Angeles Jr., his wife Ma. Concepcion, his son Martin Nicolo and seven other Legacy Group officers for allegedly conspiring to misappropriate Nation Bank’s funds using a farmland in Negros Occidental. The case was filed before the Department of Justice Task Force on Legacy yesterday, April 15. Nation Bank is one of the 12 Legacy-affiliated banks placed under PDIC receivership in December 2008.

PDIC investigators discovered that delos Angeles and company made it appear that the heirs of the late owner of Hacienda Busay located in Bago City, Negros Occidental borrowed P56 million from Nation Bank using the hacienda as collateral. According to the PDIC complaint, the heirs, Jose, Marciano, Nicolas, Jesus and Geronimo Solinap, did not and never intended to obtain a loan with Nation Bank. They instead sold the property to delos Angeles for P37 million, of which only P30 million was actually received by the Solinap brothers.

PDIC found out that delos Angeles used Nation Bank’s funds to pay the Solinap brothers equivalent to P25 million in the form of certificates of time deposits (CTDs) and checks. PDIC also discovered that the balance of P31 million of the proceeds of the loans attributed to the Solinap brothers were in fact diverted to delos Angeles’s savings accounts maintained with Nation Bank.

The plot thickens as delos Angeles and other respondents to the case allegedly made it appear that Nation Bank acquired Hacienda Busay by virtue of an undated Deed of Absolute Assignment after merely a month from the time the purported P56 million loan was extended to the Solinap brothers.

The respondents then made it appear that Nation Bank sold Hacienda Busay to Hacienda Busay Inc., a corporation owned and controlled by delos Angeles, for P80 million payable in 15 years. The respondents afterwards made it appear that Hacienda Busay Inc. made amortization payments to Nation Bank when the truth is the payments were sourced from the one of the savings accounts of delos Angeles, which according to PDIC, was funded with fictitious and/or simulated motorcycle loans.

Finally, delos Angeles, et. al. made it appear that the remaining balance of the purchase price of the hacienda in the amount of P64.76 million was fully settled by Hacienda Busay Inc. through an Amendment to Sales (Mortgage) Contract Receivable dated August 22, 2008 whereby 33 properties, registered in the name of another closed Legacy bank, Rural Bank of Bais, Inc., were assigned to Nation Bank.

Delos Angeles’s wife is one of the incorporators of Hacienda Busay, Inc. while his son, Martin Nicolo, is the majority owner of CGA Holdings Inc. which owns the majority shares of Hacienda Busay Inc. Martin Nicolo was also believed to have benefited from the proceeds of the Solinap loan because he was the recipient of the withdrawal transaction of delos Angeles in October 2006 for the amount of P471,790.

The other named respondents in the case are Raycell D. Baldovino, Sherylyn Ng, Christine Limpin, Victoria Noel, David Tan, Reynaldo Manit, and Alexis Petralba.