- Details
- Category: Nation
- Published on Sunday, 15 September 2013 18:20
- Written by Joel San Juan
THE Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Makati City has ordered an international commercial bank to return P233.6 million that it earlier took from a Philippine company in loan repayments, after it was discovered that same obligation had already been settled in an agreement in New York.
Judge Cesar O. Untalan ordered the Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) to return the payments it had already received from Philippine Investment Two (SPV-AMC) Inc. (PI Two) in a ruling issued in connection with a petition filed by the Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. (Metrobank).
Both SCB and Metrobank were creditors of PI Two, the former unit of the defunct US investment firm Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (LBHI).
After LBHI filed for bankruptcy in New York in 2008, the Branch 149 of the RTC in Makati under Untalan became the rehabilitation court to ensure the payment of PI Two's debts to creditors.
The court appointed former Chairman Monico Jacob of the Securities and Exchange Commission as the rehabilitation receiver to oversee the rehabilitation plan for the firm.
In his order, Untalan also removed SCB's standing as a creditor to be paid under PI Two's rehabilitation plan, and ordered the release from escrow of P34.5 million in loan payments previously earmarked for the bank.
"Standard Chartered Bank's claims against PI Two in this rehabilitation proceeding is now deemed excluded; and Standard Chartered Bank is ordered to return the amounts it already received under the Rehabilitation Plan in the sum of P233,629,672.88 to PI Two," Untalan ruled.
The RTC in Makati issued the order after Metrobank and PI Two filed urgent motions in March upon discovering that SCB's parent in New York and LBHI had already agreed on a global settlement that included Standard Chartered's exposure in PI Two. The amicable settlement between both parties was approved by LBHI's New York Bankruptcy Court in January.
The petitioners said that given the New York settlement, allowing SCB to continue collecting from PI Two's rehabilitation proceedings would constitute double payment in favor of Standard Chartered, to the detriment of the company and its other creditors.
Claiming that SCB had deliberately withheld information about the New York settlement from the rehabilitation court, PI Two officials earlier this year filed criminal cases for perjury and other deceits against SCB officials with the Makati Prosecutor's Office.
PI Two said in its complaints that SCB also concealed that it had received some $90 million in collateral for the P819 million it loaned PI Two. SCB and LBHI reached a settlement based on this hidden collateral, with SCB returning some of it back to LBHI. The PI Two cases have since been transferred to the Department of Justice for resolution after a petition by SCB's lawyers.
Joel San Juan
