MANILA, Philippines – The Court of Appeals (CA) affirmed the search warrants issued against officials and agents of Kapa Community Ministry International, the group behind one of the country’s largest investment scams.

In a 14-page decision, the appellate court’s 13th Division dismissed Kapa’s petition questioning the search warrants issued by the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) and implemented in several of its offices across the Philippines in 2019, including those in Quezon City, Taytay, and General Santos City.

The group filed the petition before the CA after a trial court denied its earlier motion for reconsideration to suppress evidence gathered during a raid conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

Kapa accused the Manila RTC of committing grave abuse of discretion, saying that the court issued the search warrants in the absence of probable cause.

In its decision, however, the appellate court said that a trial court is authorized to issue warrants for places outside of its territorial jurisdiction, and it was necessary in the case against Kapa to prevent any unauthorized spread of information related to the operations.

It added that the NBI was able to provide evidence and information that backed its request for warrants to be issued, and that the “trial court made a careful examination of all the documents submitted…and propounded probing questions to the witnesses.”

“Their personal knowledge is more than enough to sustain a finding of probable cause for the issuance of the subject search warrants,” the CA said. 

The search warrants were issued in relation to complaints filed against Kapa over its investment scam, where a person was asked to donate at least P10,000 up to P2 million in order to be a member. The money, according to donor contracts, would be used for the “propagation of the religious faith” and “establishment of livelihood programs.”

In return, Kapa promised investors that their money would grow 30% a month and for life, a claim that the Securities and Exchange Commission previously said is “mathematically impossible.”

In 2019, then-president Rodrigo Duterte ordered the shutdown of Kapa and other similar investment scams, which mostly targeted residents of Southern Mindanao. – Rappler.com