A former business partner of celebrity and entrepreneur Kris Aquino is now facing 44 counts of qualified theft charges as well as violation of Republic Act 8484, or The Access Devices Regulation Act (RA 8484) before the Department of Justice for allegedly using her funds for his personal use.
In her separate complaints lodged before the DoJ-Office of the City Prosecutor in Mandaluyong, Pasig, Makati, Quezon City and Manila, Kris Aquino identified the respondent as Nicardo M. Falcis II, her projects manager since 2016.
Aquino, sister of former President Aquino III, accused Falcis of exploiting his position of trust and confidence when he used for his personal expenditures the credit card with credit limit of P2 million she issued for the purpose of facilitating payment of suppliers and other obligations necessary for the operations of his production outfit Kristina Aquino Productions.
The KCAP card, according to Aquino, was supposed to be used solely for KCAP-related expenses, such as payments for advertisements of brand partners posted on her social media accounts.
“In all, respondent had charged P1,270,980.31 to the KCAP Card for personal expenses without my consent. Prior to my discovery of these expenses and demand for their payment, respondent neither informed me about them nor undertook or made arrangements to settle them,” Aquino said in the complaint.
Aquino acknowledged that Falcis tried to return the money which he misappropriated by delivering to her house a check in the amount of P437,595.67, albeit short of P833,384.64.
However, Aquino said Falcis’ attempt to return the money would not belie the fact that there was a crime committed through serious breach of her trust, “which monetary recompensate alone could not make right.”
Meanwhile, Aquino slammed the alleged delaying tactics being employed by the respondent to evade prosecution.
In a statement, Aquino said her lawyer Sigfrid Fortun found out that Falcis’ camp is seeking the inhibition of the entire San Juan Prosecutors office from hearing and resolving her complaint.
Aquino said Falcis claimed she was charming her way to get the prosecutors to rule in her favor and secure an indictment.
The actress has earlier assured that she wouldn’t want her case to be tried based on public opinion, perception and popularity.
Aquino’s camp claimed that Falcis has gone out of the country to evade the case filed against him.
“Isn’t it an accepted belief that flight is already an admission of guilty” Or at least an indication of profound fear?” she said.
Aquino recounted that he met the respondent in 2015 when he encouraged her to invest in Nacho Bimby Pilipinas Corpo. and Patatas Prime Ventures Inc.
The movie and television actress added that Falcis was able to impress upon her that he was capable of handling her hard-earned money and life-savings, thus, she agreed to enter into several business ventures with him.
In 2016, Aquino said he tapped Falcis to be her projects managers whose main task was to solicit business for her brand endorsements, acting engagements or investments in commercial ventures.
With the growing demand for endorsement services, Aquino said she decided to integrate the production aspect of her work with the business ventures that Falcis obtained for her to save cost and to ensure good quality of product endorsement materials for posting on her social media accounts.
“I thus used KCAP to expand my reach to those who followed my work on social media with those I did for companies who sought my services for product endorsements for which I appointed respondent as KCAP’s managing director,” Aquino recounted.
Aside from this, the complainant said he also asked Falcis to oversee the daily operations of KCAP and its finances, prompting her to issue a corporate credit card in his name as user and authorized signatory.
However, in July 2018, Aquino discovered that Falcis misappropriated the KCAP funds while she was going over the credit card statements of the KCAP card.
She said Falcis made purchases without her consent and which were not related to the operations of KCAP.
Aquino said she was shocked to learn that Falcis purchased popular cosmetic products from “MAC” in the amount of P99,200 as this may run counter to her Ever-Bilena Kris Life Kits, a local cosmetic brand that is envisioned to compete with “MAC.”
Worse, Aquino said she learned from her clients that they did not receive MAC cosmetics, contrary to Falcis claim that these were intended as gifts for their clients.
Furthermore, Aquino said the respondent used KCAP card to fund his expensive travels, stay in five-star hotels, restaurant bills and others.
“When I discovered the financial abuse that respondent had done, I felt betrayed. I entrusted my livelihood and businesses to him. I trusted that his judgment would always be prudent and wise. I expected to be protected in every decision that he will make on my behalf. But he simply shunted aside the trust I had reposed on him as my agent when he abused and misapplied KCAP’s credit knowing fully well the limitation on its use,” she said.
Falcis’ betrayal, according to Aquino, took a toll on her health as it resulted to her lost appetite and her weight dropped to less than 54 kilograms.
“I could not sleep well at night and my health quickly deteriorated so much so that I had to see medical specialists in Singapore to assess my condition and prescribe treatment for it,” Aquino claimed.
Meanwhile, Aquino slammed the alleged delaying tactics being employed by the respondent to evade prosecution.