[ manilastandardtoday.com ]
THE Court of Appeals has allowed the
Department of Justice to file syndicated estafa charges against the executives
and officers of housing developer Globe Asiatique Realty Holdings Corp. (GA)
for allegedly duping the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-Ibig) in the amount
of P1.014 billion.
In a 27-page decision, the CA’s 17th
Division through Associate Justice Franchito Diamante lifted the writ of
preliminary injunction issued by the Regional Trial Court of Pasig City Branch
167 Presiding Judge Rolando Mislang last
Sept. 5, 2011 stopping the justice department from filing the syndicated estafa
charges.
The raps were to be filed against GA
president Delfin Lee; his son Dexter, executive vice president, chief finance
officer and treasurer; Cristina Salagan and Christina Sagun, heads of the GA’s
accounting department and documentation department, respectively; and lawyer
Alex Alvarez, an employee of Pag-Ibig’s legal department.
“After a thorough and judicious study
of the attendant factual and legal milieu, this Court has come to the conclusion
that no prejudicial question exists that would justify the issuance by the
public respondent Judge of the writ of preliminary injunction as both cases
before the DOJ can proceed independently of that with the Makati RTC,” the CA
ruled.
The CA stressed that Judge Mislang
committed grave abuse of discretion in stopping the filing of charges before
the trial court against Lee due to the existence of a prejudicial question.
On Oct. 29, 2010, HDMF
officer-in-charge Emma Linda Faria filed a complaint before the National Bureau
of Investigation against Lee and his son Dexter, among others.
On the same day, the NBI recommended
to the DOJ the conduct of a preliminary investigation against GA and Lee and
his-accused, for the crime of syndicated estafa constituting economic sabotage.
Subsequently, the DOJ formed a panel
of prosecutors to investigate the complaint filed by HDMF through Faria.
A month after, GA and Lee filed before the Regional Trial
Court of Makati a complaint for specific performance and damages against HDMF.
In the said complaint, Lee asked the
Makati RTC to compel HDMF to accept the replacements they had proposed to take
the place of home buyers who failed to pay their loan amortization.
Lee’s lawyers contended that the inaction
of HDMF to accept the said replacements forced the company to fail to perform
its obligations under the memorandum of agreement and the funding commitment
agreement it entered into with HDMF.
Meanwhile, on Dec. 10, 2010, the NBI
Anti-Graft Division filed another case of syndicated estafa constituting
economic sabotage against Lee and other GA officers.
In recommending the filing of such
charge, the NBI took into account the complaint filed by HDMF Fund against GA and its officers, for
the fraudulent take-out of housing loans from fake borrowers.
The HDMF grounded its complaint on the
affidavits executed by three clients of GA who complained of not being able to
receive the titles to the properties they bought from the GA’s Xevera’s housing
project in Mabalacat, Pampanga.
__________________________________________________________
