MANILA, Philippines - Former Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera on Thursday said flaws in a case filed against Celso de los Angeles, owner of embattled Legacy Group, as reason for the delay in granting justice to victims.

Devanadera, who has resigned to pursue a congressional seat, said the Department of Justice task force found flaws that could weaken the case filed by Legacy clients and regulators such as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Philippine Deposit Insurance Company (PDIC).

"I reviewed [the case] and saw something that would weaken the case. There were some people who scrambled to file cases against de los Angeles when they were not even the aggrieved parties. It should be the party in interest that should file the case. That was addressed but it took some time because I had to convince [the complainants] that the cases would be dismissed as filed," she told radio dzMM.

Devanadera made these comments as response to criticisms on the "condominium arrest" of De los Angeles. Last year, warrants of arrest were issued against De los Angeles, Legacy executives, and others. De los Angeles has evaded jail as the arrest warrants were issued in time for his hospital treatment of his throat cancer.

The Legacy "scam" has resulted in billion-peso losses to hundreds of thousands of investors and depositors, including overseas foreign workers, military and police personnel, and the government-controlled banks, all over the country. De los Angeles has been dubbed the local version of Bernard Madoff who has defrauded thousands of American investors, while the Legacy mess has been compared to the downfall of American insurance giant, AIG.

What flaws?

Devanadera was citing a case filed by the BSP with the justice department, which has been collating various cases filed by regulators. The case--syndicated estafa, a non-bailable criminal offense--is currently being heard at a city court in General Santos City in Mindanao.

The judge from General Santos was one of the 2 who granted the request of De los Santos' lawyer to transfer the Legacy owner from St. Lukes hospital in Quezon City to a nearby residential condominium. The other judge was from Cagayan de Oro trial court who handled a case filed by individual investors that include another judge based in Mindanao.

For the General Santos case, it is now at a stage where a legal issue is being resolved, according to Alfonso Penaco, director for BSP's special investigation office.

In a phone interview with abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak, Penaco said the lawyers of De los Angeles and the Legacy Group have questioned the legal personality of the BSP as the case complainant since the regulator has not personally suffered financial damage from the alleged crime.

"That is not a flaw but a bone of contention. That's a legal issue that the (General Santos) court is trying to address," Penaco told abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak.

The syndicated estafa case filed by the justice department in behalf of the BSP at the General Santos court centered on the Rural Bank of DARBCI where there was allegedly some P1 billion-worth of fraudulent transactions involving De los Angeles and other executives.

The BSP has employed the services of Villaraza Cruz Marcelo & Angangco law firm as external counsel for the Legacy cases.

Cases vs Legacy, De los Angeles

In 2009, regulators BSP and PDIC have filed a combined 15 Legacy-related cases with the justice department, which in turn conducted preliminary investigations to find "probable cause" before filing cases in courts.

Of the 15 cases, 14 are still pending with the DOJ. Only the BSP case filed in General Santos has progressed. BSP filed a total of 4 syndicated estafa cases, which are non-bailable offense, and 1 large-scale estafa case, a bailable one.

PDIC, for its part, has filed at the DOJ ten various estafa cases in 2009. It has also filed 1 case at the Ombudsman and 4 civil cases in various courts.

The deposit insurance regulator has employed fraud auditors from Punongbayan&Arraullo to help comb through numerous bank documents for proofs of fraud.

The DOJ has also collated other complaints filed by other Legacy investors and depositors all over the country, except for the case filed in Cagayan de Oro.

The Cagayan de Oro court has since issued a warrant of arrest, which turned into a "hospital arrest." With De los Angeles' new acommodation, he is now considered under a "condo arrest," which is rousing criticisms.

For the syndicated estafa case filed by vice presidential aspirant and senator Mar Roxas in 2009, the DOJ has downgraded this to a "simple estafa," a bailable offense. - with reports from Lala Rimando, abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak