Police say prosecution still possible in PEYA mess probe

By Vir B. Lumicao 

Police descend on Peya's office in 2017 as hundreds of irate customers besieged the place

Four years after the PEYA Travel ticketing fiasco that led to hundreds of Filipino workers who were going home for Christmas family reunions being stranded at the airport, the case is still alive, according to the Consulate.

No less than the Office of the Commissioner of Police has sent a letter to the Consulate recently asking for assistance just in case the investigators get the green light to prosecute those behind the mess, a PCG officer said Thursday, Dec. 16.

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“We received a letter from the police advising us to be prepared to help if they receive the signal to prosecute the case,” said Consul Paulo Saret, head of the assistance to nationals section.

Saret said he called the police unit handling the case upon receipt of the letter, and gave assurance that the ATN can contact the complainants anytime they’re needed as it has them in its database.

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Police investigated the case after hundreds of ticket-buyers who were expecting to fly home for Christmas were bumped off their flights starting Dec 18, 2017, as PEYA had not paid the carriers for their tickets.

When irate passengers descended en masse on PEYA’s office in World-Wide House starting Dec 18 to demand a refund, PEYA staff quit altogether on the same day, while managing director Rhea Donna “Yanyan” Boyce did not show up.

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Marketing manager Arnold Grospe faced the angry customers alone on Dec 19, signing a sort of promissory note to return their money. In the evening, he was invited by officers to the Central Police Station for questioning but released him in the wee hours.

 

Boyce was later arrested for suspected fraud in her Wanchai flat on Christmas Day while her Australian husband, Peter, was nabbed and investigated. He was later freed.

 

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In July this year, a police spokesperson said both Boyce and Grospe had been freed without charges being filed against either.

“They have not been rearrested and, as such, have no police bail and are not required to report to the police every month,” the spokeswoman said. 

But at the same time, she said the case was still open and police were still seeking legal opinion and gathering evidence.

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Consul Saret said as far as he could recall, about 250 of the estimated 1,200 passengers, mostly domestic workers, whose travel plans were fouled up by the PEYA mess had given their statements to the police.

Police trying to peep into Ylagan's shuttered offices in World-Wide House 

He said that number of complainants would be enough to represent all those affected if a class suit would be filed against the company

Meanwhile, the police say they are also continuing their investigation into allegations of fraud against Ester Ylagan owner of two collapsed employment agencies, Emry’s and Mike’s Secretarial Services.

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Ylagan remains under police bail after being arrested in 2016 on suspicion of offering non-existent jobs in Canada and Britain to at least 200 Filipino workers in Hong Kong and Macau, who were each charged between $10,000 and $15,000.

 Police said Ylagan is due to report back to them in mid-January next year.

 

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