PAGADIAN CITY – Manila and Kuala Lumpur is in a tug-of-war over a Malaysian fugitive who is wanted in the Philippines for large scale swindling and estafa.
Scam suspect Manuel Amalilio was arrested in 2013 in Kota Kinabalu in Sabah for using falsified passport after fleeing from the Philippines following the collapse of his company Aman Futures.
Amalilio, who goes by his other name Moh Kamal Sa’aid, was arrested after some of his Filipino victims caught up with him in Kota Kinabalu where he was trying to negotiate with them to pay back their investments. He was recently released from jail and Malaysia said it will not hand over the fugitive to Philippine authorities because both countries have no extradition treaty.
Amalilio introduced himself in Mindanao as a Malaysian businessman who was into stock trading and money markets and is being accused as behind the P12-billion Ponzi scheme in Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur province and other parts of the Metro Manila. He operated in Mindanao with his Filipino accomplices who were also arrested and facing criminal charges.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said they will try to convince Malaysia to hand over Amalilio so he can be tried in the Philippines.
De Lima had previously sent a team of National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents in Sabah to bring Amalilio back to the Philippines to face criminal charges, but Malaysia refused to hand over the fugitive.
One of his victims in Pagadian, Jerome Luega, said the scam duped thousands of people and affected the local economy. “Many people were affected by this scam. It destroyed the lives of many people who were victimized by Amalilio’s scam. We like to see him jailed here in Pagadian so can stand trial and pay his crimes.”
“We know that there is no way we can get back our investments, but to see Amalilio in jail gives us a sense of justice,” Jerome Luega, whose family invested in Aman Futures, told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
Investors said they put so much money into the trade after its Amalilio promised to pay them as much as 50% profit in just two weeks.
The investment trading began in February 2012 in Pagadian City and news of its high-yield, high-profit spread like wildfire and attracted even street hawkers and tricycle drivers who poured their hard-earned savings into what they believed was an overseas stock and money trading.
During the first weeks of its operation, investors were paid at least 31% and profits increased to 50% in the succeeding weeks – luring not only ordinary citizens, but politicians as well.
The Department of Trade said the people behind the investment trading were able to secure a permit for a business name and that succeeding permits carried various names of owners.
The Securities and Exchange Commission had issued a public warning about the Ponzi scheme, but many investors simply ignored this after being told by the company that they would be paid on time. The Mindanao Examiner was the first to break the news about the scam after some investors complained that they failed to get back their capital.
The scheme is named after Charles Ponzi, who became notorious for using the technique in 1920. His operation took in so much money that it was the first to become known throughout the United States. Ponzi’s original scheme was based on the arbitrage of international reply coupons for postage stamps; however, he soon diverted investors’ money to make payments to earlier investors and himself.
It was also the same scheme that American stock broker and investment advisor Bernard Lawrence Madoff – who was arrested in December 2008 – used to lure thousands of clients to invest in his scam. As much as $65 million dollars were believed lost to Madoff’s scam. (Mindanao Examiner)
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