By Roy Pelovello

LEGACY Group owner Celso de los Angeles is not yet off the hook even though he was left out of the first criminal charges filed against officials of four affiliated rural banks, an official said yesterday.

?The [central bank] has not yet completed its investigation. We have barely scratched the surface,? Bangko Sentral Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla said.

At yesterday?s hearing of the House committee on banks and financial intermediaries, Espenilla said the Bangko Sentral and the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. had yet to complete their separate probes into the closure of 13 rural banks under the Legacy group.

In a statement, Espenilla also tagged De los Angeles? Legacy Group as ?a truly first-rate pyramid marketing organization? and an ?organized syndicate.?

The Justice Department also formed a panel to investigate the central bank complaints and look into the criminal culpability of the group?s owner, De los Angeles.

?Without advancing a theory, it would appear that De los Angeles should be one of those investigated,? Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said.

But Alfonso Penaco, director of the central bank?s Office of the Special Investigator, said his group had yet to find any evidence linking De los Angeles directly to the alleged violations committed by the four rural banks.

On Feb. 6, the central bank filed 116 counts of charges for falsification of public and commercial documents plus two counts of false statements against 18 officials, employees, and agents of the Rural Bank of Para?aque, Rural Bank of DARBCI in South Cotabato, Rural Bank of San Jose in Batangas, and Bank of East Asia.

Earlier, the bank also filed 49 counts of falsification of public and commercial documents and one case each for false reporting and false statement against 16 officers, employees, and agents of Rural Bank of Para?aque, Rural Bank of San Jose (Batangas), Dynamic Rural Bank (Calatagan, Batangas), and Rural Bank of DARBCI.

The Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. said it would start servicing depositor claims from the 13 Legacy banks closed in December, starting with regular savings accounts.

The company said actual payments would begin Friday, Feb. 13.

In yesterday?s hearing, De los Angeles repeated his earlier allegation that his banks were the victim of harassment by regulators.

Among other things, he complained about the refusal of the Bangko Sentral and the PDIC to extend an emergency loan to his banks even if investors from Bank Mega from Indonesia had expressed interest in putting in more money to save his firms.

De los Angeles said the adverse publicity generated by Espenilla?s interviews in the media, which accused Legacy banks of engaging in ?unsafe and unsound? banking practices, had generated a ?run? in Legacy?s rural banks.

?We are operating on a business plan, but when you close that tap [where money flows], it would definitely cause trouble in our operation,? De los Angeles said.

?The media also reported erroneously on our legal battle against the [central bank]. Practically all the reports said it was about the closure of banks, but closure is not the issue there?the issue is our right to get a copy of the [central bank] report.?

But Espenilla said the closure of the 13 rural banks under the Legacy group was compelled by the need to protect depositors, the deposit insurance system, and the banking system from further damage.

?We are dealing here with an organized syndicate that, from Day 1, was created to exploit human nature and weak links in the legal, regulatory and enforcement framework of our banking and financial system, andfor the purpose of large-scale gathering of people?s savings, diverting these through fraudulent means for the syndicate?s purposes,? Espenilla said. With Rey E. Requejo and Eileen A. Mencias