The Securities and Exchange Commission revoked the registration papers of Organico Agribusiness Ventures Corp. for allegedly engaging in the illegal solicitation of investments from the public.
SEC director Jose Aquino revoked Organico’s certificate of incorporation after the company, which was registered with the SEC on May 8, 2019, misrepresented itself as both an agribusiness company and a seller of investment contracts.
The SEC can revoke a certificate of incorporation if the company was misrepresenting itself that can cause great prejudice or damage to the general public.
The SEC said the company had claimed in its primary purpose that it was authorized to engage in investment-solicitation activities “through the offering or selling for sale public securities in the form of investment contracts.”
The regulator said Organico’s activities to offer or sell unregistered securities to the public without the corresponding registration or license as a security broker was a misrepresentation.
It said the act constituted “serious misrepresentation as to what the corporation can do to the great prejudice or damage to the general public which is ground for the revocation of a corporation’s primary franchise of certificate of registration.”
An SEC investigation showed that Leyte-based Organico was luring the public to invest at least P18,000 for 10 shares in the company. It promised an investor of P450 for every share for every 15 days, or a total of P2,700 in three months.
The money collected are allegedly invested in the company’s diverse business, which includes organic farming, organic poultry, organic piggery, restaurant serving organic food, telemarketing, music studio and construction.
The SEC said such a scheme constituted the sale and offer of securities, in the form of investment contracts, and required a secondary license from the SEC. Jenniffer B. Austria
Organico, is the second company to be stripped off of its certificate of incorporation by the SEC for selling securities without the necessary license and in a manner resembling a Ponzi scheme.
The SEC earlier canceled the incorporation papers of Kapa-Community Ministry International Inc.. and Moola Lending Corp.