10 bankers liable for $34.7m scandal

10 bankers liable for $34.7m scandal

MANILA (AFP): The Philippines' justice department said
yesterday it would prosecute five bank employees and five top
officials of a bankrupt securities trading firm for fraud in
connection with a 938 million peso (US$34.7 million) securities
trading scandal.

Justice Secretary Franklin Drilon told a news conference he
has ordered state prosecutors to conduct a pre-trial
investigation of the five Bank of Commerce employees and five
Bancapital Development Corp. (Bancap) officials.

Under Philippine judicial procedures, state prosecutors are
empowered to subpoena respondents for hearings not lasting more
than 60 days to determine whether there is ample ground for the
filing of criminal charges against them in court.

Drilon said the five, Marilyn Nite, Nunelon Bradley, Victoria
Magalona, Harry San Luis and Virgilio Bruno of Bancap and Bank of
Commerce senior manager Eugene Yang, along with four employees
detailed with the bank's domestic operations, were liable for 167
million pesos in undelivered treasury bills.

Ordinary fraud is punishable by a maximum jail term of eight
years, but Drilon said he has ordered prosecutors to have them
prosecuted under a presidential decree that punishes fraud with
life imprisonment if the swindle is "committed by a syndicate
consisting of five or more persons formed with the intention of
carrying out the unlawful or illegal act."