The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has filed 30 criminal complaints against individuals involved in the REPA Paluwagan investment scam which has allegedly defrauded more than 1,000 investors in Bohol.
According to NBI Bohol chief Joel Ayop, they filed against two REPA administrators and several resellers charges for violations against the Securities Regulation Code (SRC) and estafa before the Tagbilaran City Prosecutor’s Office and Bohol Provincial Prosecutor’s Office.
More charges were expected to be filed in the following days.
The NBI over received over 100 complaints since the REPA issue broke out two weeks ago and these were set to be forwarded to the fiscal’s office.
“Daghan ta’g na file karong semanaha, daghan na dugang naa tanan sa fiscal unya daghan pa ta’g coming within this week,” said Ayop.
The province’s top NBI official hoped that they will be able to file all charges against the other admins and resellers before the end of the year.
“Atong gina monitor ni ilang mga addresses pero sa karon wala pa ta kaayo ga focus ana unless nana gyud tay warrant of arrest against nila kay di man pud na nato puydi dakpon,” said Ayop.
Among the complainants who chose to push through with the filing of charges were resellers who claimed to have remitted P80 million to P100 million to their administrators.
Meanwhile, there were also resellers who still held back from naming and filing charges against their admins in hopes of settling their disputes by getting their remittances and investments back.
According to Ayop, they have identified admins who are from Bohol and Davao.
However, they were still coordinating with the NBI in Davao to identify and locate these individuals.
“Gipa verify nako sa NBI Davao dili pa pud nila ma locate tong address na gihatag, hasta ang pangalan na gihatag sa reseller na mao kunoy ginaremittan nila,” said Ayop.
Last week, the NBI also arrested a REPA reseller who allegedly continued to sell REPA slots even after the investment scheme was confirmed to be illegal by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Operatives collared Shara Mae Ancog, 32, who has allegedly victimized multiple buyers, during an entrapment operation in Tagbilaran City.
Ancog was charged before the Tagbilaran City Prosecutor’s Office with violations against the SRC and estafa.
The NBI is only handling a few of the over 1,000 REPA complainants.
Other REPA victims filed their complaints before the multi-agency task force of the provincial government which includes the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group as lead agency. (A. Doydora)