PNP-CIDG director, Brigadier General Nicolas D. Torre III and PNP spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Jean S. Fajardo discuss before the media about the deportation to Manila from Indonesia of Hector Pantollana, the suspected ‘brains’ behind an alleged P4 billion investment scam that victimized thousands of Filipinos. (Photo by Alfred Dalizon)
Mastermind in P4-B scam extradited, now in PNP-CIDG custody
HECTOR Pantollana, the 35-year-old suspected ‘brains’ behind a massive investment scam that reportedly gypped some 10,000 investors of nearly P4 billion is now under the custody of the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group following his deportation from Jakarta, Indonesia.
PNP-CIDG director, Brigadier General Nicolas D. Torre III said they are continuing their investigation of Pantollana who was arrested in Bali, Indonesia following coordination between the CIDG Anti-Organized Crime Unit and the Indonesian National Police.
“We just implemented a warrant, various warrants for the suspect who was accused of scamming, gypping several persons of large amounts of money. We got him with the help of the Indonesian police and had him repatriated to Manila,” said the official.
Pantollana is the subject of at least 15 warrants of arrest for various criminal offenses, two of them non-bailable syndicated estafa charges in Baguio and Iligan City, said Brig. Gen. Torre. The accused already had three lawyers defending him when he arrived in Manila.
Some of his victims went to the PNP-CIDG headquarters in Camp Crame to confront the accused. Two representatives of the group who refused to be identified said they were composed of at least 100 persons who lost a total of P135 million to the suspect.
Brig. Gen. Torre said the suspect is wanted for different modus operandi including networking and casino junkets.
“Basically, he and his co-accused duped people to invest their money in various businesses with high returns. Marami kaming namo-monitor na similar high-yield, high-return investment schemes,” he said.
“Pero pag pinangakuan kayo, pag sobra na ng 15-20 percent ang interest per month, kung too-good-to-be-true na ang promised returns, mag-isip-isip na kayo. Pag sinasabi ng scammers na tutubuan, o double your money in just months, it’s most likely a scam,” the PNP-CIDG director warned the public.
Brig. Gen. Torre said they are currently monitoring some known personalities who are involved in such fraudulent schemes and are telling their targets they are registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and would be issuing post-dated checks to their would-be investors.
In the case of Pantollana, he said that the latter’s operation is nationwide with warrants issued by different courts from Cebu, Central Luzon, Mindanao, Visayas, and Metro Manila.
“There are some investors who claim they lost P200 million to the suspects. We’re looking at several billion here, with some Overseas Filipino Workers as victims too,” Brig. Gen. Torre said.
The official said that the suspect fled to Indonesia where he was tracked down and arrested by Indonesian police following tips from Philippine authorities.
Brig. Gen. Torre said they are still in the process of accounting for more accomplices of Pantollana and will ask victims to give supplemental affidavits needed in prosecuting the accused.
Last June, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a criminal complaint against Pantollana whose companies include the Philippine National Esports League, Horizon Players Club and Team Z for alleged violation of the Securities Regulation Code and the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
Victims of the scam who were mostly from Cordillera region were reportedly promised returns of 60 percent to 111 percent annually with capital and profits guaranteed by post-dated checks.
Brig. Gen. Torre said the arrest of Pantollana was proof the strong coordination and partnership between the PNP headed by General Rommel Francisco D. Marbil and their Indonesian counterparts in preventing and combating transnational crimes and other illegal activities in the two Southeast Asian countries.
The suspect was later presented to the members of media. Representatives from the PNP-CIDG Anti-Organized Crime Unit led by Lieutenant Colonel Jose Joey Arandia, PNP attache to Indonesia, Col. Donald Madamba, Indonesia’s Director General of Immigration, Lieutenant Gen. Saffar M. Godam and the secretary of the National Central Bureau of the Jakarta Interpol attended the media event.
