SEC scores another win in fight vs illegal lenders
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) scored another legal victory against illegal lending with the court conviction of the key people behind X-CEE789 Lending and Trading Inc. for falsification of documents when it tried to register as a lending firm in 2017.
This marked the 8th conviction obtained by the SEC in its ongoing war against illegal lenders.
Pasay City Regional Trial Court Branch 118 found X-CEE789 incorporators and directors Merlinda Derequito, Mila Anonuevo, Haydee Alarcon, Maria Collen Custodio, Marisa Abaquin, Ramona Belen, Pinder Kaur Bhopal, Parvesh Kumar, Karan Kumar, Surinder Bhopal, Kamaljit Kaur and Jaswinder Kaur “guilty beyond reasonable doubt” of violating Section 12(3)(a) of the Lending Company Regulation Act of 2007 (LCRA).
The court ordered each of them to pay a fine of P10,000.
The SEC had filed the criminal complaint against these people upon discovery of their false statement in their application for the incorporation and licensing of X-CEE789.
The said company submitted a certificate of bank deposit in the amount of P1 million, purportedly issued by Banco de Oro-Two Shopping Center Branch in Pasay City, to comply with the minimum paid-up capital prescribed by the LCRA in 2017. Upon verification with the bank, however, the SEC found that no such certificate was issued to X-CEE789.
The SEC subsequently denied the company’s application for registration. LCRA prescribes a fine of P10,000 to P50,000 or imprisonment of not less than six months but not more than 10 years or both, to any officer, employee or agent of a lending company who knowingly makes a false statement in any application, report or document required under the law.
Since starting its crackdown against illegal lenders in 2017, the SEC has won eight cases against those involved in “5-6” schemes and usurious practices. In the cases decided so far, the courts found 71 individuals, 33 of whom are foreigners, guilty beyond reasonable doubt of violating the LCRA. The SEC has likewise revoked the primary registration of a total of 2,081 lending companies to date for noncompliance with the LCRA.
