MANILA – Kris Aquino, the youngest sister of President Benigno Aquino 3rd and considered to be one of the highest paid celebrities in the country, was among those gypped by agents of investment firm Aman Futures Group, a Malaysian news agency reported.
An exclusive report written by the investigative team of the Borneo Insider published on January 30, said that Kris invested P50 million in the company of Manuel Amalilio.
“Among those victimized included senior Philippines government officers and even the President’s own sister Kris Aquino was said to be among them, who was said to have invested 50 million pesos,” the news report said.
The Manila Times tried to contact Kris Aquino on Thursday but people close to her said that she could not be disturbed because she was celebrating her 42nd birthday in an undisclosed location.
If true, the younger Aquino could be among the 15,000 victims who lost P12 billion to the “Ponzi scheme” investment scam.
Malaysian citizen
Amalilio, known in Malaysia as Mohammad Kamal Bin Saad, was arrested at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport in Sabah with a fake passport under the name Manuel Karingal Amalilio.
“According to a senior State government official who spoke on condition of anonymity, his extradition was stopped by the Malaysian authorities simply because first and foremost Kamal is a Malaysian citizen and secondly, there is no extradition agreement between Malaysia and Philippines,” Borneo Insider said.
Amalilio, who is married to a Filipina, was supposed to be flown to Philippines on January 25 but he was not allowed to leave by Malaysian authorities.
In the Philippines, Amalilio and nine other Aman Futures executives and employees have a standing warrant of arrest issued by Branch 20 of the Regional Trial Court of Pagadian City for syndicated estafa. At least six Aman executives are already in the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation and have applied to become state witnesses.
President Aquino have given assurances that his government will continue its efforts to bring Amalilio back to the country, so that he will face justice.
“We expect him to be brought back to the Philippines and to face trial in the Philippines—and with the evidence that’s presented—to be convicted and sent to jail, and that will serve, hopefully, as a deterrent to others,” the President said.
Fund custodians
Meanwhile, the Borneo Insider also reported that the money swindled from the victims is being held by eight cousins of Amalilio.
“It was reliably learnt that the money which he allegedly embezzled through Aman Future Group is currently being separately safe-kept by eight custodians who are his first cousins,” the report said.
It added that while most of the funds were transferred by wire, some were smuggled out through the Palawan backdoor.
Collecting agents
Officials of Barakah Trading and Twin Khan Trading, who claimed to be Aman Futures agents, disclosed in an open letter to Malaysian authorities that they had invested nearly P500 billion in Aman.
They said that a family of 25 members also lost P150, while the single biggest investor was a woman named Raimah Malawi who placed P31 million.
The agents, according to Borneo Insider, are presently in Kota Kinabalu to seek help from fellow Muslims. They said that they decided to flee to Malaysia for fear of reprisal from angry investors.
They said that if Amalilio will be extradited to the Philippines, his chances of survival would be very “slim.”
Forfeiture
On Thursday, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said the Philippine government would move for the extradition of Amalilio and forfeiture of his assets.
De Lima said that the government would try to have Amalilio’s assets in Malaysia forfeited by supplementing the Malaysian government’s freeze order on the suspect’s assets.
By next week, two Filipino state prosecutors and two Filipino state counsels will work out a plan to secure Amalilio’s return to the Philippines.
“They are now drafting the formal request for extradition and supplemental request for other forms of assistance and even the freezing of assets,” de Lima said.
Justice Undersecretary Jose Vicente Salazar and Ambassador J. Eduardo Malaya met with Malaysian authorities last week to request the freezing of Amalilio’s assets.
“But based on the original or initial request that we made [to Malaysia], the supplemental request will include and will contain additional particulars or facts or information from our end with respect to the freezing of the assets,” de Lima said.
De Lima said that they are still trying to determine what and how much assets Amalilio still has.
In November, the Court of Appeals issued a 20-day freeze order on 25 bank accounts of Aman Futures to prevent its officials from withdrawing money and putting it beyond the reach of law.
Link: http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/news/headlines-mt/41528-kris-loses-p50m-to-aman-scam
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