Three individuals in separate money laundering cases involving illegal investment solicitation have been convicted, with courts imposing prison terms and millions of pesos in fines, according to the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).
AMLC Executive Director Atty. Ronel Buenaventura said regional trial courts in Davao City and Zamboanga City rendered judgments against individuals linked to schemes that solicited investments from the public without the required regulatory authority.
The Davao court convicted one individual on 13 counts of money laundering predicated on violations of the Securities Regulation Code. The case stemmed from the activities of a religious organization and its founders, who were charged with illegally soliciting investments from the public.
An AMLC investigating team found that the convicted individual conspired with the organization’s founders in carrying out the scheme.
For each of the 13 money laundering counts, the individual was sentenced to imprisonment ranging from seven years to eight years and one month and fined Php 3 million per count.
Meanwhile, the AMLC’s second conviction involved two individuals linked to a trading company in Zamboanga City. The Zamboanga City RTC convicted the two of violating Section 4(b) of Republic Act No. 9160, or the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001.
The case followed an investigation into a trading company owned and operated by one of the convicted individuals. According to the AMLC, the company solicited investments from the public while offering “big returns” despite lacking the required secondary license and registration from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The two individuals were each sentenced to an indeterminate prison term of four to six years and ordered to pay a fine of Php 1.5 million.
