The Department of Justice has created a two-man panel of prosecutors to determine if there is sufficient basis to criminally indict before the courts persons connected to the multi-billion-dollar financial scandal of Wirecard AG, a firm based in Munich, Germany.
The panel would be probing former Wirecard executive Jan Marsalek and former Department of Transportation (DOTr) Assistant Secretary Mark Kristopher Tolentino based on the complaint filed by the National Bureau of Investigation.
The DOJ’s National Prosecution Service (NPS), headed by Prosecutor General Benedicto Malcontento, has designated Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Wendell Bendoval and Prosecution Attorney Ivn Maj Nopuente as the panel to conduct the preliminary investigation.
NPS Assistant State Prosecutor Honey Delgado, spokesperson for the Office of the Prosecutor General, said the panel has not yet set a date for the first preliminary hearing or submission of counter-affidavits of Marsalek and Tolentino, “but will confirm with them on Monday (today).”
Last May 31, the NBI and Bank of the Philippine Islands filed a criminal complaint against Marselek, Tolentino and M.K. Tolentino Law Office, Joey Dela Cruz Arellano a.k.a. Joey Cruz Arellano, Judith Singayan Pe, and other unidentified individuals.
The complaint accused the respondents of allegedly falsifying of commercial documents in relation to Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 for issuing spurious documents such as bank certifications and account summaries, among others.
The NBI also sought the prosecution of the respondents for allegedly violating sections of the General Banking Act, the New Central Bank Act, and the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.
The bureau also alleged that the respondents violated Section 33 of RA No. 8792 or the Electronic Commerce Act, for allegedly hacking or cracking or unauthorized accessing into or interference in a computer system/server.
There were also other violations of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 such as offenses against the confidentiality, integrity and availability of computer data and systems and computer-related offenses, the NBI added.
Last year, two Philippine-based banks were dragged into controversy as they were allegedly holding trust accounts worth 1.9 billion Euros or US$2.1 billon for the German payments processing firm Wirecard AG.
The money reportedly went missing prompting Wirecard to file for insolvency, but local officials later said the money never entered the country’s financial system.
Aside from investigating the complaint, Delgado said the panel of prosecutors would also handle and consolidate pending or future cases that have related parties or involving the same controversy.
She disclosed a related case was filed by the NBI against Bureau of Immigration (BI) officers Perry Michael Pancho and Marcus Nicodemus. These cases are already pending in court.
The two BI personnel were reportedly involved in the tampering of the BI records to make it appear that Marsalek arrived in the Philippines on June 23, 2020 and departed for China on June 24, 2020.
The two Immigration officers were charged with computer-related offenses under Section 4 (b) (1) 1(i) of RA No. 10175 and violation of RA No. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.