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Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Ex-general’s P9M lost to ‘swindler’
By Karlon N. Rama
CEBU CITY -- Estafe charges were filed Tuesday against a fruit vendor who, through a scam that began in April 2004 until she was finally discovered in July this year, swindled a woman of over P9 million in cash.
Jonalyn Anodan, according to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), duped Corazon Samia Flores of Talamban, Cebu City, into investing her husband’s retirement money into a mango business.
But, in her complaint, Flores described the venture as “something that never was.”
P3.1M claim
In her complaint, Flores downgraded her claim for damages to P3.1 million, since the filing fee corresponding to the actual damage sustained, P9.1 million, was too high.
No less than NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco, before he suffered a stroke and subsequently died, called up the Cebu bureau and directly assigned the case.
Flores is reportedly married to a newly retired general.
Anodan talked Flores, a regular client at the local farmers’ market, into becoming her business partner. They would buy mangoes from the farm gate and sell them to companies that produce dried mangoes and other processed food exports.
Anodan got Flores’ investment, told her to wait a couple of weeks and then paid Flores almost half of the amount she had originally invested.
The original invested amount was kept as capital for the next round of purchases.
She, however, enticed Flores to add to the amount originally invested by throwing in her “profit.” Her pitch was that Flores would get a much higher return.
Later, she enticed Flores into infusing more capital.
She kept repeating the process until she got Flores to shell out a total of P9,102,500.
“In truth and in fact, Jonalyn Anodan never bought any mangoes to be supplied to 7D International and R&M Mangoes, but misappropriated said amount for herself,” NBI 7 Director Medardo de Lemos said in a letter to Cebu City Prosecutor Nicolas Sellon.
In her affidavit, Flores narrated that she met Anodan in September 2003, while the latter was selling fruits at the farmers’ market located in the parking lot of a mall.
She said she became a frequent customer and that Anodan slowly gained her trust. Anodan, she narrated, would borrow money from her at times. This was paid in weekly installments.
According to Flores, Anodan approached her with a business proposition last July 20, 2004, and asked her to provide the capital in a buy-and-sell business involving mangoes.
“She told me that her aunt was currently supplying mangoes to these companies,” she narrated.
Flores said she initially invested P693,000 in July 2004.
Blown
“And from the said period up to July 12, 2005, Jonalyn D. Anodan received the total amount of P9,102,500 to allegedly buy mangoes for 7D Food International and R&M Mangoes, Banilad Mangoes and Philippine Dried Mangoes,” she said.
The alleged con was blown when Flores wanted to recover part of her capital, but Anodan could not pay.
(December 21, 2005 issue)
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