The Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday it secured the conviction of eight officers of Phil86 Gurunanak Lending and Trading Corp. for falsifying registration documents.
It said in a statement Pasay City Regional Trial Court Branch 112 found the eight individuals guilty beyond reasonable doubt of violation of Section 12, Paragraph 3(a) of Republic Act No. 9474, or the Lending Company Regulation Act.
The court sentenced each of the officers to pay a fine of P10,000. The decision was made after the officers entered a guilty plea to the act of falsifying their company registration documents.
The SEC filed the criminal complaint against the officers after finding that they made a false statement in their application for the incorporation of Phil86.
Phil86 submitted a certificate of bank deposit in the amount of P1 million, purportedly issued by Banco de Oro-Two Shopping Center Branch in Pasay City, to comply with the minimum paid-up capital prescribed by the LCRA during its registration as a lending company with the SEC in 2017.
The SEC said upon verifying with the bank, it found that no such certificate was issued. The SEC subsequently denied the company’s application for registration as a lending company.
Section 12, paragraph 3(a) of the LCRA penalizes any officer, employee or agent of a lending company who shall knowingly and willingly make any false or misleading statement with respect to any material fact in any application, report, or document required under the law.
The SEC said it had secured the conviction of 86 individuals for violation of the LCRA.
It also cancelled the licenses of 39 financing/lending companies over various violations of applicable rules and regulations while f 58 online lending applications were ordered to cease operations for lack of authority to operate as a lending or financing company.
The SEC, through the Corporate Governance and Finance Department, also revoked the primary registration of 2,084 lending companies for non-compliance with the LCRA.