THE Securities and Exchange Commission has filed more charges against Celso de los Angeles and other officials of the Legacy Group, which includes banks and pre-need companies, for violations of the Securities Code.

Investors from Cebu have similarly filed cases against the same officials for syndicated estafa.

On Thursday, the central bank filed a P1-billion case against the group for syndicated estafa even as the SEC filed its first cases against the same group.

The central bank accuses De los Angeles of conceiving and hatching a criminal scheme to swindle the public and to siphon funds from the Tural Bank of DARBCI, a member of the Legacy Group and which has offices in General Santos City and Cebu City.

It closed 15 rural banks last December, and of those at least 12 are suspected of being part of the Legacy Group. It said its investigation revealed a massive diversion of funds from those banks using fictitious loans.

Many of the borrowers credited with loans denied having obtained them, and others admitted to receiving P10,000 to P15,000 to sign blank documents that were later used as supporting papers for loans.

?We have a very, very strong case because we have unearthed their money-making schemes,? said Elmar Galacio, a partner with the CVC Law firm that the central bank has hired to represent it. Rey E. Requejo