CA freezes bank accounts of MFT Group

The financial accounts of Maria Francesca Tan (MFT) Group of Companies Inc. were frozen by the Court of Appeals (CA) alongside the order to conduct an inquiry into the matter after finding probable cause on the related unlawful activity.

Those frozen accounts involved 138 bank accounts, four securities accounts, and four insurance accounts, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The resolution dated 13 May of the CA stated, "We find that there exists probable cause that the subject bank, securities, and insurance accounts may be related to violations of Section 8.1, Sections 26.1, 26.3, and Section 28.1 of the [Securities Regulation Code], listed as an unlawful activity under Section 3 (I) (33) of the AMLA, as amended."

The CA in a 17 May separate resolution, also authorized the AMLC to inquire into the bank, securities, and insurance accounts of the group within 120 days.

These were issued upon the petition of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), which sought a 20-day freeze order on the MFT Group’s bank, securities and insurance accounts.

Also, the frozen accounts were under the names of the MFT Group, Foundry Ventures I Inc., Mondial Medical Technologies, Maria Francesca Tan, Christian Konstantin, Roxanne Agbayani, Enrique Eduardo Tan, Charles Edward Tan, and Luis Gabriel Cancio, Jr., among others.

It was sought by the AMLC after the MFT Group was found to be soliciting investments from the public without the required SEC licenses.

To recall, the MFT Group is being investigated by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for allegedly running an illegal investment scheme, where investors were offered high returns through postdated checks reflecting the monthly interest.

Promissory notes or borrower-lender agreement were given to the investors as proof of their investment, but these were allegedly issued without SEC authorization.