laestrella.com.pa/panama/nacional/testigos.../23978379
Witnesses confirm irregularities in Principia Financial
Testimonies of two former employees reveal the work model, the names of the investors and the measures they took to circumvent the restrictions of the SMV
Two testimonies from former employees of the investment house Principia Financial Group, to which this means of communication had access, confirm irregularities in the handling of the products offered by the company to customers. Córdoba Chen y Asociados, a plaintiff in a fraud suit against the investment house, said the two witnesses expect the Public Prosecutor's Office to admit their testimony to ratify their allegations. The firm added that it will extend the complaint to request that the company's investors be investigated.
"When the Superintendency of the Securities Market (SMV) intervened the company (Principia Financial Group) the company prohibited us from talking about binary options, they even made us erase the data of the computers, limiting ourselves to the point that we could not talk to the entity that Regulate, "said a notary on December 1, 2016, an investment account executive who has suspended his trading license since June 24, 2016 for failing to comply with the Market Law.
The worker admitted that when he entered to work as account executive of the investment house he had no experience in securities business advice. "In the company many people like me work and the products that were offered were stocks, currencies and binary options. The company offered them in Panama and other Latin American countries, "he continues in his statement before the Notary Public.
$ 7 MILLION IN LOSSES
"I know that these people who manipulated customer transactions and offered opportunities apparently did not have a license," adds the witness who asked not to be publicly mentioned by name. The statement was attached to the file opened at the First Discharge Prosecutor's Office against the investment house for fraud against at least one hundred people who lost about $ 7 million, according to the law firm.
'LET'S ASK FOR THE BANKING MOVEMENT OF THESE COMPANIES THAT HAVE LINKS TO INVESTORS',
MARÍA E. CÓRDOBA
A LAWYER
Among the arguments in support of the criminal complaint filed by the law firm Córdoba Chen y Asociados is that the company used foreign employees, without migratory permits and without employment contracts, who had no training or license to carry out their work, in A violation of article 23 of the Securities Law.
'I want to declare that they are not a serious company and in the period that the SMV was in the office sent home new employees with salaries paid for not to make statements. After the entity retired they began to work at night with the 24 option mark for fear that they would discover them. When they liquidated me they did not pay my overtime and also did not make the payment of Social Security ..., in this situation there are other employees who can declare, 'he concludes.
The testimony of the account executive coincides with that of another employee of the company, who reported irregularities. "I did not like the fact that they started to lie in the company when they went to the SMV to verify if they complied with the legal norms," said Oste worker of the company that worked in the stock department.
The employee of the stock department, who also filed in the Notarial Public Notary his testimony, said that when the SMV frequented the office he was ordered to keep the physical documents of customers in the warehouse and erase all information from the computer undue.
'When the SMV started the investigation we were moved to the technical support department. They also changed the schedule in the morning and barred us from talking about 24 Option. The department that worked binary options began to work from 4 pm to 10 pm In that time worked employees who did not have legal papers to avoid verifications, "added this worker in the stock department.
On June 23, 2016, the Office of the Fifth Discharge sent the investigation against the investment house to the First Prosecutor's Office, headed by Otilia González de Londoño, who was designated as specialized in financial, environmental and territorial crimes.
Six months later, María Eduarda Córdoba, a prosecuting attorney, said she expects the MP to fulfill her investigative role. Córdoba added that it trusts that five witnesses, two of them protected, will be allowed to present evidence, including photographs, accounts and contracts that were made with the binary product '24 Option '.
In a publication dated November 22, 2016, La Estrella de Panamá announced, according to the complainant law firm, that Roey Hayun, a stockbroker who has been detained in Israel for fraud, money laundering and for conducting an illegal network of Betting online, would be tied to the investment house. The Israeli newspaper Makor Pishon reported that Hayun is the main investor behind "24Option", a stock market that carries a high level of risk due to the possibility of losing the capital invested and that was one of the financial instruments offered by Principia Financial Group.
'THOSE PEOPLE WHO HANDLED CUSTOMER TRANSACTIONS HAD NO LICENSES',
WITNESS
PROCESS AGAINST FINANCIAL PRINCIPLE
Before the arrest, the same model he implemented in Israel extended it to Panama, explained María Eduarda Córdoba, a lawyer who represents a group of people affected by the operations of the investment house.
THE INVESTORS
Córdoba reported that behind the investment house there is a corporate structure (Equinox and PFG Panama Inc) and Israeli investors. "Principia Financial Group is nurtured by two Jewish groups," possibly linked to money laundering, Cordoba said.
The lawyer said that Erex Navon, Asaf Elblink, Asaf Elblink, Gal Vardi and Leo Feder, who functioned as administrators, were among the group of investors who supported the structure of the company.
The position of the lawyer coincides with the testimony of the account executive. The people who ran the company were not only Gal Vardi (executive director), Rafael Nieto (president), Leor Feder (operating officer), there were other foreign investors who came to verify and observe the company. We were
presented with five investors, among them, the owner of 24 Option ', said the exejecutivo of accounts.
The process in the MP, however, is stagnant, despite the evidence that has been presented, Cordoba said.
The Panama Star tried, without success, to know the status of the case in the MP. Principia Financial Group, for its part, previously said that 'the media is not the ideal forum to debate the issue'.
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