CA has ordered Kapa Ministry assets frozen, says SEC chief

The appellate court has issued a freeze order on several bank accounts and other assets of Kapa-Community Ministry International Inc., which the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dubbed as an investment scam.

In a press conference in Pasay City on Monday, SEC Chairperson Emilio Benito Aquino said the Court of Appeals issued the freeze order last week in response to the petition of the corporate regulator and the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).

“The appellate court issued the freeze order on June 4,” the SEC said in a separate statement released to reporters.

The announcement came days after 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,” the President said in an interview aired on Sonshine Media on Saturday.

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

The SEC said it will file criminal charges against Kapa for violating the Securities Regulation Code of the Philippines and continuing to operate without the necessary permits.

“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,” said Aquino.

The commission issued a CDO against the company in February 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 license to do so.

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

According to the SEC, the minimum placement in Kapa Ministry was P10,000 and the maximum at P2 million.

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

“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,” Aquino said. —VDS, GMA News