BAGUIO CITY — The people behind a casino junket financing scheme that allegedly collected at least P4 billion in supposed investments from over 10,000 individuals in Northern Luzon have been charged with syndicated estafa by the Baguio City Prosecutor’s Office.
Formally charged last March 15 were Hector Pantollana, leader of the erstwhile Horizon Players Club casino junket operator, and 15 other personalities including the group’s Baguio and Cordillera region wing Team Z leader Hazen Humilde.
Starting July last year, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) received a wave of complaints from so-called “investors” and “account managers” of Team Z, claiming that they were allegedly duped into investing money on the promise that they would continue receiving 5% monthly returns on their investment. A panel of prosecutors probed the allegations of over 200 complainants.
A lawyer who claimed to speak for Pantollana said through Messenger that “there are people who were indicted but not having any single participation in the alleged felony.”
“The conspiracy was not proven… [there was] no probable cause to establish conspiracy,” he added. — Artemio A. Dumlao