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Saturday, February 15, 2003
Return P75M: court
By Giovannie A. Nilles
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
A DAUGHTER of a Chinese multi-millionaire in Cebu was ordered by the Regional Trial Court to return more than P75 million in cash and properties she took from her father in 1997.
The amount was taken from the bank account of Jose Gotianuy, a real estate business magnate and formerly a major shareholder of the Mactan Island Electric Co. (Meco).
His daughter, Mary Margaret Gotianuy-Dee, took the money after he agreed to convert into a joint account his peso and dollar savings accounts with China Bank and Citibank, court records show.
She and her husband, George Dee Jr., also attempted to take more than P60 million worth of real estate properties before Gotianuy died in August 1998.
Gotianuy is the brother of Augusto Go, owner of the University of Cebu, and businessman Peter Go.
Regional Trial Court Judge Agapito Hontanosas Jr. did not have any doubt in his mind that it was Mary Margaret who took all her father’s money and that, together with her husband, tried to take all her father’s properties.
Not a cent
In an 11-page decision handed down last month, it was pointed out that Gotianuy only learned of the loss on Dec. 4, 1997, when he went to a store to buy a P200,000 worth of earrings for his wife.
He was furious when he discovered that not even a single cent was left in his account with China Bank when he had just sold more than P35 million worth of his Meco shares.
He then instructed bank manager Henry Sia to check with Peter Dee, then China Bank’s president and elder brother of his son-in-law. It was only later that the bank confirmed that all his money was transferred to his daughter’s account.
At that time Gotianuy was diagnosed to be suffering from cirrhosis of the liver and agreed to place all his money in a joint account with Mary Margaret.
About a month after the discovery, another incident shook Gotianuy.
This time, an employee of the Bureau of Internal Revenue called him up and asked him to sign several documents showing that he sold all his properties to his son-in-law, George Dee Jr., for P60 million.
A meeting among the Gotianuy family, which was also attended by Augusto and Peter Go, led Mary Margaret to promise to return P500,000 of what she took. But she failed to do so.
Thus, the late Gotianuy decided to file a petition for annulment of sales and recovery of titles, stock certificates and money before the courts.
Uphill battle
It was not an easy fight, though, as the Dee couple secured a Court of Appeals order to stop Gotianuy’s lawyer, Julius Neri, from taking the latter’s deposition, a written testimony that is usually taken ahead of a hearing day.
But Neri went on taking the deposition after the appellate court’s restraining order expired, prompting the Dee couple to ask the court to cite Neri for contempt.
It was dismissed after the court ruled that in view of Gotianuy’s pending death, it would amount to denial of due process if his deposition were not taken.
After the presentation of 17 prosecution witnesses and one defense witness, the case was submitted for decision.
“There is no doubt that (she) took her father’s money. This finding is supported by her admissions and by documentary evidence and testimonies of bank officers…the deeds of sale and assignment were shams. The surrounding circumstances in the executions thereof were marked with irregularities such that the presumption of regularity has been duly overthrown,” the decision read.
Aside from ordering the Dee couple to return the money and properties they took, Judge Hontanosas also recognized Augusto’s rights to at least five of the Gotianuy real properties.
(February 15, 2003 issue)
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