Pyramid scam suspect’s house attacked

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – Armed men on a motorcycle strafed the home of a principal suspect in a multibillion-peso pyramid scam yesterday, killing a soldier who was guarding the house.

The attack on the house of Jachob “Coco” Rasuman in Marawi City was staged a week before his arraignment for syndicated estafa in this city.

Pfc. Oward John Abellana of the Army’s 65th Infantry Battalion, a unit of the 103rd Infantry Brigade, died of multiple gunshot wounds.

His companion, who was not identified, managed to fire back and hit the gunman, but the suspects got away.

Police found 15 shell casings from an M16 rifle and seven from a caliber .45 handgun at the spot outside the house where two men on a motorcycle pulled up and opened fire at around 11:45 a.m. yesterday.

Police said only a caretaker stayed at the house in Barangay Panggao Saduc.

Prosecutors filed a case after finding probable cause in the initial complaint of 25 victims who lost some P120 million in the investments scheme employed by Rasuman’s Nad 21 Auto Option Corp.

There have been reports that Rasuman had once been an agent for Aman Futures Group Phils. Inc. owned by fugitive Filipino-Malaysian Manuel Amalilio.

Aman had duped 15,000 people, mostly in the Visayas and Mindanao, in a Ponzi scheme.

Among the victims, according to investigators, are police and military officers.

Last year the offices and homes of several executives and employees of Aman were attacked, apparently by victims of the scam.

Cagayan de Oro City prosecutor Fidel Macauyag, in a statement yesterday, said the attack on Rasuman’s house could be connected to the pyramid scheme.

“I don’t want to speculate, but that might be the handiwork of irate investors,” Macauyag said. “That’s what we are trying to avoid. Victims should not take the law into their hands. We have legal processes to take care of the problem.”

Macauyag noted that the fatality was a soldier who had nothing to do with the swindle.

Rasuman was supposed to be arraigned in Cagayan de Oro City last Wednesday but the hearing was reset to Feb. 8.

Amalilio is said to be the nephew of Musa Aman, chief minister of Sabah where the fugitive has sought sanctuary.