Investment scam leader to face 2 more estafa raps

MANILA -- Two more syndicated estafa charges will be filed Thursday by the Department of Justice (DOJ) against Jachob "Coco" Rasuman, suspected leader of an investment scam group operating in Lanao del Sur.

Several members of Rasuman's family, including his father, former Public Works and Highways undersecretary Bashir Dimaampo Rasuman, will also be charged with same offense.

The younger Rasuman is already in the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation in connection with a P120-million syndicated estafa case filed against him and his father last November by 25 complainants.

He was arrested at his safehouse in Barangay Panggao Saduc, Marawi City, simultaneous with the DOJ's promulgation of its resolution on the criminal charges against them last November 17.

In separate resolutions dated January 10 and approved Wednesday by Prosecutor General Claro Arellano, the DOJ's special panel of prosecutors recommended the filing of charges before a Regional Trial Court in Cagayan de Oro after finding probable cause against the Rasumans.

Aside from the elder and younger Rasuman, also indicted were Coco's wife, Princess; brother Basher Jr.; mother Ema; and father-in-law Sultan Yahya Jerry Tomawis in the first complaint. In the second complaint, two other Rasuman brothers, Maning, the vice mayor of Tamparan, Lanao del Sur, and Jerome, were included as respondents, but not their mother.

The cases stemmed from the complaints separately lodged by Achmad Sangcaan and Naim Sampao, who both claimed to have been gypped of their multi-million investments in the Rasuman family's double-your-money scheme.

According to Sangcaan, he had invested a total of P5.13 million. He was promised an interest rate of 70 percent to 100 percent in two-months’ time for his initial investment of P300,000 in the Rasuman's NAD-21 Auto Option Trading Corp.

Sampao, for his part, said he lost P14.3 million to the group, but he is asking for damages, including interests amounting to P26.51-million.

Enticed by the lure of easy returns of their money as well as the promise of luxury vehicles for longtime investors, the victims eventually fell prey to the Rasuman's sham investment scheme until the company failed to remit their investments. (JCV/Sunnex)