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MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court has given the greenlight for the trial of 88 persons who allegedly posed as depositors of the closed Legacy Bank and who were able to claim insurance worth P97.73 million.
The Supreme Court Third Division reinstated a 2016 resolution of former justice secretary Emmanuel Caparas which indicted spouses Manu and Champa Gidwani and 86 other fake claimants for the crimes of estafa through falsification of documents, perjury, and money laundering.
The Court of Appeals previously nullified Caparas’ 2016 resolution, and dismissed the complaint against the depositors. The 3rd division, headed by Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr, reversed the appellate court and reinstated Caparas’ indictment.
What happened before: The Legacy Bank, composed of 12 affiliated banks, were closed in 2008. The Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) had to pay insured depositors of the said bank.
According to the PDIC, 471 accounts were opened in various Legacy Name accounts worth a total of P118.19 million.
The PDIC later found that the accounts were opened and funded through checks issued by only one individual. The PDIC also discovered that some of the depositors in the accounts were employees of the Gidwani couple.
Under PDIC rules, all deposits maintained by one owner shall be consolidated into one account and entitled to a maximum deposit insurance coverage.
By having multiple accounts by multiple owners, the Gidwani couple and their allegedly dummy depositors were able to claim P98.73 million. In Caparas’ indictment, the Gidwani couple should have only been entitled to P250,000 maximum insurance for all the deposits.
Also indicted before was Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) Bacolod Main branch manager Andrew A. Jereza.
When the PDIC issued checks to the insurance claimants, there was instruction that the check be deposited to the account of the payee only. Instead, 683 checks were deposited to a single account at the RCBC Bacolod.
Caparas said then that the RCBC and Jereza should have flagged the deposits.
How the Court of Appeals decided: The PDIC filed a complaint against spouses Gidwani and the 86 other individuals for allegedly filing fraudulent insurance claims by posing as depositors “when they are not the true owners of the said deposit accounts maintained with the Legacy banks.”
Before Caparas indicted them, a task force of the Department of Justice had cleared them. Caparas, as head of the DOJ, ruled for the indictment eventually.
But in January 2017, the CA said Caparas committed grave abuse of discretion by indicting the respondents cleared by his department’s own task force. The CA again cleared the respondents.
What the Supreme Court said: According to the High Court, the CA prematurely ordered the dismissal of the complaint.
“It was therefore plain error on the part of the CA to have ruled that SOJ (Secretary of Justice) Caparas virtually had no option but to affirm the findings of the DOJ Task Force as to the alleged absence of probable cause to charge respondent,” it said.
The 3rd division said a full-blown trial shall be held.
“Whether or not there indeed existed an agreement between respondent Manu and the individual depositors is a matter best left ventilated during trial proper, where evidence can be presented and appreciated fully. Suffice it to state for now that the Court herein finds probable cause to charge respondent for estafa and money laundering,” the SC said in a decision penned by Velasco.
Associate justices Marvic Leonen, Samuel Martires, and Alexander Gesmundo concurred. – Rappler.com
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