Vallacar Transit Inc., the country’s largest bus transport company that operates Ceres Liner and Sugbo Transit, said Tuesday it is preparing an estafa case against its former chief finance officer over the alleged P380-million missing funds.
The legal team of Vallacar Transit said in a statement it was preparing the required documents to file a criminal case of “qualified theft/estafa” per Revised Penal Code against Celina Yanson-Lopez, one of the four Yanson siblings who attempted to take over VTI in July this year.
“Celina Yanson will have a day in court,” the legal team said.
The legal team said that as the CFO, Yanson-Lopez was responsible for any missing funds in the company under her watch as she had full control of the processes, recordings, and approvals of all disbursements.
Sought for comment, Sheila Sison, legal counsel of Celina Yanson-Lopez, denied the allegations.
Sison said auditing firm Sycip, Gorres and Velayo did not identify her client as the one responsible for the alleged missing funds.
“The alleged accountability of Yanson-Lopez is a blatant lie, if not a pure fabrication,” she said.
Sison said it was Celina Yanson-Lopez who raised the issue before the VTI board and pushed for an investigation.
“The alleged SGV report as claimed by the other camp, that CYL has at least P380-million unaccounted advances/liabilities to the company is a total lie, if not libelous. Nothing in the SGV audit report mentions or identifies CYL as the person responsible for the alleged unaccounted disbursements,” Sison said. Darwin G. Amojelar
Sison said the amount claimed by the camp of Yason matriarch Olivia Yanson was not as big as they alleged as the audit already established that most of these amounts were paid to suppliers per bank statements.
The company audit report, signed by all internal auditors of the company, identified a former company official who oversaw operations in the Manila Purchasing Office and the MPO cashier as the ones responsible for the unauthorized transactions, she said.
The same MPO cashier was charged with qualified theft now pending in the QC prosecutor’s office, according to Sison.
Olivia Yanson and her two children Leo Rey Yanson and Ginnette Yanson Dumancas regained control of the company on Aug. 19 in a special stockholders meeting at the company’s main office in Barangay Mansilingan, Bacolod City.
The board also re-elected Leo Rey Yanson as the president of the company, Charles Dumancas as vice president, Ginnette Dumancas as treasurer and Olivia Yanson as corporate secretary.