SEC warns public on revival of Kapa investment scam

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has intensified its crackdown on Kapa-Community Ministry International (Kapa) operations amid claims about the revival of the group’s investment scam.

In a press statement, the SEC reiterated its advice to the public to avoid dealing with individual and groups representing Kapa, which had been enticing the public to “donate” money in exchange for a 30-percent monthly “blessing” or “love gift” for life, without having to do anything other than invest and wait for the guaranteed return.

The SEC, which had filed a criminal complaint against Kapa in June, said the group’s solicitation resembled a Ponzi scheme, an investment program that offered impossibly high returns and paid investors using the money contributed by other investors. This was seen tantamount to a fraudulent transaction as prohibited under Section 26 (26.3) of the Securities Regulation Code (SRC).

Various posts on social media claim that Kapa would soon relaunch its operations under the name Kapa Worldwide Ministry Association.

The SEC reminded the public that Kapa Worldwide Ministry Association was not registered either as a corporation or as a partnership. Furthermore, no secondary license to solicit investments from the public was issued under such name.

The corporate watchdog added that Kapa could have not successfully registered another corporation given its history of defrauding investors and a pending criminal complaint against it and its officers and promoters.

Kapa was formerly registered as a nonstock corporation. On April 3, however, the SEC revoked its certificate of incorporation for serious misrepresentation of what it was doing to the great damage or prejudice of the public.

Section 8 of Republic Act No. 8799, or the SRC, provides that “securities shall not be sold or offered for sale or distribution within the Philippines, without a registration statement duly filed with and approved by the commission.”

Section 28 further states that no person shall engage in the business of buying or selling securities in the Philippines as a broker or dealer, or act as a salesman, or an associated person of any broker or dealer unless registered with the SEC.