The Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) is leaving no stone unturned in its efforts to uncover the fraudulent schemes and irregular transactions perpetrated by Legacy owner Celso de los Angeles, Jr. and officers of his Legacy banks. The state deposit insurer recently filed with the Department of Justice a P5.37 billion syndicated estafa case against de los Angeles and officers of Legacy-affiliated banks. This is the biggest case filed so far by PDIC in terms of amount and its 23^rd Legacy case.

The syndicated estafa complaint alleged that delos Angeles and several officers of Dynamic Bank conspired and benefited from the misappropriation and conversion of the bank’s funds amounting to P5.37 billion. Dynamic Bank is one of the 12 failed Legacy-affiliated banks placed under PDIC receivership in December 2008.

The complaint further alleged that investigations conducted jointly by PDIC and forensic experts from Punongbayan & Araullo (P&A), an external audit firm, revealed that delos Angeles and 21 officers and employees of Dynamic Bank created various fictitious loans, including motorcycle loans, and diverted the proceeds of these loans to the savings accounts of Legacy Motors, Inc. (LMI) and OneCard Company, Inc. (OneCard). LMI and OneCard are likewise owned by delos Angeles. Thereafter, delos Angeles and his co-conspirators withdrew a total of P5.3 billion from these savings accounts. Part of the withdrawals was used by these bank officers and employees to create fictitious deposit accounts in the names of various individuals and Legacy-affiliated firms.

Accused of syndicated estafa were delos Angeles, Germiniano Noche, Jr., Ampere Elman, Flora Bulasag, Danilo Consul, Teofila Garcia, Bartolome Quintana, Emilio Quintana, Vicente Quintana, Analea Galban, Cleofas Ordonia, Brenda Sombillo, Leny Yanoria, Jocelyn Arroyo, Rafael Cueto, Grace Delgado, Emylyn Geli, Carmela Illenberger, Sherwin Masusi, Arnel Ligan, Rizalina Alvez, and Geraldine Palo.

Other Cases

Earlier, PDIC has filed three other cases – one for syndicated estafa and two for large scale estafa against delos Angeles and Legacy officers and employees before the DOJ. They represent cases number 20-22 of the PDIC against Legacy.

The 20^th case was for large scale estafa alleging misappropriation of funds in the Bank of East Asia (BEA) amounting to P3.8 million. It was found from forensic investigation that delos Angeles and Alexis Petralba, officer of a Legacy-affiliated bank, conspired to siphon off funds from BEA amounting to P3.8 million through the creation of fictitious loans.

Meanwhile, the 21^st case was also for large scale estafa against delos Angeles, Petralba and Reynaldo Manit, a loan appraiser from the closed The Center Rural Bank, a Legacy-affiliated bank closed in 2006, for conspiring to siphon off P16 million in funds from the closed Rural Bank of Carmen likewise through the creation of fictitious loans.

The 22^nd case filed by PDIC was for syndicated estafa, a non-bailable offense, involving another fraudulent scheme perpetrated in two (2) of the 12 failed Legacy-affiliated banks, Rural Bank of Bais and Pilipino Rural Bank, to siphon off money in the amount of P39.78 million from said banks. Charged were delos Angeles, and five officers of the closed RB Bais namely; Petralba, Fernando Rafanan, Jr., Ma. Lidonna P. Gabayan, Cecil J. Ibgos and Joylyn B. Tandoy.

PDIC said more cases are being prepared against Legacy officials as the forensic audit of P&A comes to a conclusion. The Legacy scam is considered to be among the biggest financial fraud schemes in Philippine history, involving 48 banking units across the archipelago and P14-billion in estimated insured deposits.