CEBU CITY – The Criminal Intelligence and Detection Group (CIDG) in Central Visayas is now tracking down the five executives of a foreign exchange firm in General Santos City that allegedly duped its several investors.
Maj. Allan Tolosa, chief of CIDG-7, on Thursday said they have launched a manhunt for Kirby Adrian Adolfo, Maria Corazon Adolfo, Kathryne Ann Adolfo, Johnrell Revilla, and Godwin Garciano, all officers of Shantal Business Center and Forex Trading Corporation.
Earlier, authorities arrested John Rafael Revilla alias “Shantal”, 36, of Calumpang, General Santos City, in a village in Argao town, south of Cebu on the strength of a warrant of arrest for a syndicated large scale estafa case before Judge Renato Tampac of Regional Trial Court Branch 59 under the 11th Judicial Region.
Revilla will be transferred on Thursday to General Santos City while a copy of the warrant will be presented to RTC Branch 59 for its proper disposition.
“Let’s not discount the possibility basin naa pa ang iyang kauban dinhi sa Central Visayas. Iya ra man sab ning mga paryente ang mga opisyal usab sa Shantal Business Center (perhaps his other colleagues are still in Central Visayas. His colleagues in the Shantal Business Center are also his relatives),” Tolosa said.
The case against the forex company stemmed from a complaint filed by 32 investors who asked the help of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) after they reportedly lost a total of PHP302 million in investments in the Shantal Business Center.
“Atong panawagan sa mga nabiktima aning Shantal nga mo-report sa atong PNP para mahatagan og hustisya. And to the would-be victims next time please be extra careful in investing your money dapat maniguro. Sometimes deceiving kaayo sila (I advise the victims of Shantal to report to the Philippine National Police so that they can get justice. To the would-be victims, please be extra careful the next time you like to invest your money, you should have assurance. They are sometimes deceiving),” Tolosa said.
Revilla told reporters that his company has been paying taxes and has documents to prove that they are a legitimate business center.
However, he said giving of payouts to their investors failed following the issuance of a warning from the Securities and Exchange Commission on the so-called Ponzi scheme.
Revilla apologized to his investors but asked them to give him a chance to return their money with an appeal to his colleagues to surrender so that they can work on giving payouts. (Ramil V. Ayuman/PNA)
