De Lima: Aman Futures head arrested in Malaysia
-A A +AWednesday, January 23, 2013
MANILA (Updated) -- Justice Secretary Leila de Lima confirmed Wednesday that Malaysian authorities accosted Manuel Amalilio, founder of the Aman Futures Group Philippines Inc., whose leaders are facing multi-million peso syndicated estafa cases in a Pagadian City court.
In a chance interview, De Lima said Amalilio was arrested in Kota Kinabalu for using fake Malaysian identification cards and passport. Amalilio is said to be of Malaysian descent but authorities there claimed he is a Filipino.
A team from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) will fly to Kota Kinabalu on Wednesday night to fetch Amalilio in a detention facility as the Philippine government is continuously working with its Malaysian counterpart to expedite his deportation.
Amalilio fled to Malaysia late last year after duping some 15,000 people in Visayas and Mindanao of over P12 billion. Over 8,000 cases have been received by the NBI in relation to the investment scam masterminded by Amalilio.
On January 11, Pagadian City Regional Trial Court branch 20 Judge Dennis Bicoy ordered the arrest of Amalilio and incorporators Fernando Luna, Nimfa Luna, Lelian Lim Gan, Eduardo Lim, Wilanie Fuentes, Naezelle Rodriguez and Lurix Lopez for syndicated estafa.
The arrest warrants were based on a resolution by the Department of Justice (DOJ) stating that Aman allegedly defrauded five investor-complainants the total amount of P46,665,069.56.
In the second complaint, the DOJ also found probable cause to indict the same respondents for gypping investors of the sum of P43,241,267.22, including interests.
But this time, the names of Dhurwen Wenceslao and Dona Coyme were included in the arrest warrant also issued by Bicoy. So far, only Amalilio has yet to be arrested by the NBI since the rest of the suspects had voluntarily surrendered to the government.
De Lima earlier said two more cases against Aman and another case involving the Rasuman group, another investment scam group, are up for resolution within the month. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)
Forum rules: Do not use obscenity. Some words have been banned. Stick to the topic. Do not veer away from the discussion. Be coherent and respectful. Do not shout or use CAPITAL LETTERS!
