FastCat owner in legal row with Taiwan leasing giant

Transportation businessman Christopher Pastrana, the owner of FastCat and JAM Liner, has become embroiled in a legal row with Taiwanese leasing giant Chailease Group over a helicopter deal that went sour.

Pastrana secured an early victory against the Taiwanese after filing a complaint.

Last September, his CAPP Industries Inc. won a qualified theft ruling from a Pasay City court, paving the way for arrest warrants to be issued against Chailease’s officials based in Manila for an Airbus Helicopter H130 that he alleged was his but was taken back by the Taiwanese group.

But in a statement over the weekend, Chailease Group said it was the rightful owner of the helicopter and that Pastrana, who leased the aircraft in 2016, allegedly defaulted on lease payments, triggering a breach of contract.

Chailease added it had “overwhelming documentary evidence” to prove “CAPP Industries Inc. of Christopher Pastrana was not the owner of the subject helicopter but was instead a lessee.” After the adverse ruling from the Pasay court, Chailease vowed to fight legal charges “all the way to the Supreme Court.” It said contract disputes should also have been settled by an independent panel in Singapore or New York.

Pastrana, in a brief text message exchange with the Inquirer, declined to make specific comments due to the ongoing court case.

In its statement, Chailease said the Pasay City court partly based its findings on an “unsigned bill of sales, saying it was enough to show an agreement ‘in principle.’”

Jose Bernas, legal counsel of Chailease, assailed the Pasay court’s findings.

“We have all the documents that would show Chailease as the owner, that it was a financial lease, that we notified Mr. Pastrana of his several failures to pay rent on time, and informed him that we had to cover for his failure to pay the insurance premiums since the unit must be insured at all times, among other default events,” he said.

Pastrana had the option to buy the unit at the end of the contract or at any time a payment is due by paying a residual value of $1.2 million which was clearly provided for in the lease contract, Bernas said.

—Miguel R. Camus INQ