MANILA (Updated 6:25 p.m.) -- The Court of Appeals extended Monday for six more months the freeze order on the assets and bank accounts of Aman Futures Group Philippines Inc. and of its key executives who are facing several syndicated estafa charges at the Department of Justice.
During Monday's hearing, the CA's Fourth Division granted the motion filed by the Anti-Money Laundering Council through the Office of the Solicitor General seeking the extension on the 20-day freeze order issued by the court last November 20 to enable investigators to establish that these bank accounts were being used by the trading firm in its illegal pyramiding activities.
The 20-day freeze order was supposed to expire on December 10. The six-month extension, however, will lapse on June 10, 2013.
Associate Justices Ramon Garcia, Amelita Tolentino and Danton Bueser unanimously ruled to grant the AMLC's request for extension of the freeze order on the 25 banks covered by the first freeze order, and where the 23 Aman executives kept their web of accounts.
The CA likewise ordered the banks to submit a report on the status of these bank accounts. The documents that will tell how much are left in the accounts, however, were not made available to reporters who covered the proceeding.
The frozen web of accounts belonged to Aman Futures; its owner Manuel Amalilio; Aman Investment Opportunities; Okachi Futures Trading; Aman Air; Lurix Bitoon Lopez; Leilan Lim Gan; Uni Gen Future Exchange Marketing; Eduard Lecaros Lim; Wilanie Fuentes; Naezelle M. Rodriguez; Fernando Roda Luna; Fretz and Sha Trading; Rioklyn P. Toledo; Jerome John D. Valera; Jerome B. Sanchez; Nino Jorino D. Ledesma; Rico Crisostomo Medina Jr.; Diosdado Manolo Yap Dybongco; Michelle Gaceta; Nimfa Caballero Luna; and, Asaza Auto Center.
The accounts were in Allied Banking Corp., Banco de Oro Unibank, Bank of Commerce, Bank of the Philippine Islands, BPI Family Savings Bank, China Banking Corp., Citibank N.A., Development Bank of the Philippines, East West Banking Corp., Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp., Land Bank of the Philippines, Maybank Philippines, Metrobank Card Corp., Metrobank and Trust Company, One Network Bank Inc., Philippine Bank Communication, Philippine Savings Bank, RCBC Savings Bank, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., Security Bank Corp., Standard Chartered Bank, Union Bank of the Philippines and United Coconut Planters Bank, Philippine National Bank and BPI Philam Life Assurance Corp., and financing firm, Orix Metro Leasing and Finance Company.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima welcomed the six-month's extension of the freeze order, saying such extension is justified "to enable AMLC and other relevant authorities to thoroughly undertake their mandated tasks vis-a-vis the deposits and other known assets of Aman Futures and affiliate entities and related individuals."
"The AMLA mechanism is a vital component of the accountability process... The CA’s freeze order extension implies or connotes that assets were indeed frozen. As to how much, the same remains confidential at this point," de Lima further said in a text message to reporters. (JCV/Sunnex)