THE Department of Justice-National Prosecution Service (DOJ-NPS) has created a 2-man panel to conduct a preliminary investigation to determine if there is a probable cause to indict Wirecard AG’s Chief Operating Officer Jan Marsalek, former Department of Transportation Assistant Secretary Mark Kristopher G. Tolentino and several others in connection with the $2.1-billion fund scandal involving the company.
DOJ-NPS Assistant State Prosecutor Honey Rose E. Delgado, spokesman of Prosecutor General Benedicto A. Malcontento, said Senior Assistant State Prosecutor (SASP) Wendell O. Bendoval and Prosecution Attorney Ivn Maj M. Nopuente have been assigned to conduct the preliminary investigation.
The panel has yet to set the date for the hearings or submission of documents by the parties.
Last May 31, the National Bureau of Investigation and Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) filed a criminal complaint against Marselek; Joey Dela Cruz Arellano a.k.a. Joey Cruz Arellano; Judith Singayan Pe; M.K. Tolentino Law Office; and other unidentified individuals.
The NBI and BPI are seeking the indictment of the respondents for falsification of commercial documents in relation to Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 for allegedly issuing spurious documents such as bank certifications, account summaries, among others and violation of the provisions of for violation of the provisions of Republic Act (RA) 8791 (General Banking Act), RA 11211 (New Central Bank Act), RA 10175 (Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012) and RA 8792 (Electronic Commerce Act). Delgado also said that aside from investigating the present complaint, the panel of prosecutors would also handle and consolidate pending or future cases that have related parties or involving the same controversy.
She was referring to the case filed by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) against its officers namely Perry Michael Pancho and Marcus Nicodemus for alleged falsification of public documents and violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. That case is now pending in court.
The two BI officers were accused of tampering with official records to make it appear that Marsalek entered the country on June 23 and left a day after.
Last year, BPI and BDO Unibank Inc. were dragged into the scandal after it was reported that they were allegedly holding trust accounts worth 1.9 billion Euros or $2.1 billion for the German payments processing firm Wirecard AG.
The money reportedly went missing prompting Wirecard to file for insolvency. But officials later said that the money never entered the country’s financial system.
BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno claimed that those behind the anomaly are only using the names of two banks to cover their tracks as initial reports showed none of the missing $2.1 billion entered the Philippine financial system.
Both banks have denied Wirecard was their client.