CAMP OLIVAS – The wife of the alleged mastermind of the Aman Futures scam was arrested recently in a bar in the City of San Fernando in this province, and was found to have assumed a new identity and even a new nose.
Central Luzon police director, Chief Supt. Raul Petrasanta said Abigail Pendulas was arrested late at night on May 2 at the Party Place in Barangay Dolores.
Pendulas, wife of suspected scam brains Manuel Amalilio, was using the name Azziah De Guzman y Concillado, Petrasanta said. “The suspect has been in hiding since last year and even managed to change her personal outlook (sic) including artifi cial nose lift,” Petrasanta added.
Pendulas is the subject of a warrant of arrest for syndicated estafa issued by Judge Alberto Quinto of Branch 1 of the Regional Trial Court in Iligan City, Lanao del Norte. She has remained under detention at Camp Olivas before being handed over to the court.
Amalilio, a Malaysian who founded the Aman Futures Group Inc., is accused of pulling off a pyramid scam that ripped off thousands of investors, including local government executives, of as much as P12 billion. He escaped and was arrested in Sabah, Malaysia early last year.
Malaysian authorities prevented Amalilio from leaving just as he was about to be returned to the country by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation to face charges over the scam. He has since been sentenced to two years in jail after pleading guilty to holding false travel documents.
According to case records, Amalilio duped investors by promising them dividends ranging from 20 to 80 percent in a maximum of 20 days. He left for Malaysia even before his victims discovered they had been defrauded.
Last December, the NBI also arrested former Pagadian City Mayor Samuel Co and his wife for their alleged involvement in the scam.
