SEC to file criminal charges against officials of Kapa Ministry

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) intends to file criminal charges against Kapa-Community Ministry International Inc. and its officials, as the company continues to accept financial investments while its necessary permits have been revoked by the regulator.

“We already revoked the Certificate of Registration of Kapa Ministry and we intend to pursue criminal charges against all the officers, as well as those who are helping and defending them,” SEC Chairman Emilio Benito Aquino said in a press conference in Pasay City on Monday.

On Saturday, President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippine National Police–Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP–CIDG) to shut down Kapa Ministry.

“To the CIDG, the police, the special investigating teams, including NBI that is pyramiding. That is why you shut them down and haul them (to courts) upon my orders,” Duterte said in an interview aired on Sonshine Media on Saturday.

According to the commission, criminal cases will be filed “in a day or two,” as Kapa continues to operate even though its papers have been revoked—effectively violating the Securities Regulation Code of the Philippines.

“We’ll make sure that you’ll be given your day in court. We have this case build up already. We are going to file the necessary criminal charges against the pastors, against the members,” Aquino said.

The SEC made permanent its cease and desist order (CDO) against Kapa Ministry, stopping it from soliciting investments without the proper license.

In February, the commission issued a CDO after it found substantial evidence that Kapa offered and sold securities in the form of investment contracts and in the guise of donations, even without the necessary licenses.

“There’s no such thing as a Kapa International now existing, as far as the SEC is concerned,” said Aquino.

“If they intend to continue … there is no longer any legal basis for doing so. We will not allow them to continue,” he added.

Latest videos uploaded by Kapa Ministry on YouTube claim that the company currently has 5 million investors, all of whom have been promised a 30% monthly return on investment for life.

According to SEC research, minimum placements in Kapa are P10,000, with the maximum at P2 million.

The commission estimates that Kapa has amassed some P50 billion, with payouts equivalent to at least P15 billion a month.

“They have presented an unrealistic return on investment (ROI) which is ridiculously high and the scheme is mathematically impossible,” said Aquino.

“If he continues even just for a year, that’s P180 billion that he needs to be able to cover his promised investments or whatever he calls it,” he added.

Moving ahead, Aquino said that officials of Kapa led by Pastor Joel Apolinario and his wife Reyna Lobitana Aquino, have been included on the watchlist of personalities no longer allowed serving as incorporators and directors of other companies.

Preliminary investigation by the SEC found that Kapa, as an entity, has no assets as these were all under the name of Reyna Aquino. —VDS, GMA News