DOJ probes Indian-Filipino family’s P1 billion property dispute
The complainant alleges the respondents, which includes his brother, connived with each other and through 'deceit and machination,' succeeded in depriving him of his inheritance
MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Justice (DOJ) started its investigation into the dispute of a Filipino-Indian family involving over P1-billion worth of properties.
The DOJ started its preliminary investigation on Thursday, August 24, into the complaint filed by a certain Amith Prem Chandiramani against his businessman brother, Rajiv Chandiramani, their mother Pushpa Chandiramani, and five other respondents:
- Janet Cardinal
- Maria Anita Turqueza
- Rommel Olaybar
- Christina Gutierrez
- Angelito Manuel
The Amith Prem lodged the complaint for alleged multiple counts of falsification of public documents. In an interview, Edmundo Magpantay, the complainant’s lawyer, said the case involves the several properties left behind by the Indian-Filipino family’s patriarch, Prem Chandiraman, after his death in 2011.
“There was a deed of sale signed by the father who died in 2011, and it was signed in 2018. The property was sold to another entity then mortgaged to several banks. There are several documents appearing that were falsified and according to my client it was his brother respondent Rajiv who falsified all the documents because according to law, the one who used the document is the one considered to be the forger of the document. So that’s why we filed a case against him before the DOJ,” Magpantay explained.
The complaint, which fell under paragraph 1 of Article 172, in relation to Article 171, of the Revised Penal Code, alleged the respondents connived with each other and through “deceit and machination,” succeeded in depriving Amith Prem of his inheritance.
The complaint was originally filed by the Amith Prem with the National Bureau of Investigation, but was later referred to the DOJ. Aside from the said properties, the brothers are also reportedly embroiled in a legal battle over the ownership of a property in Malibu, but Magpantay said the DOJ complaint does not cover the said property.
Magpantay added that the respondents did not show up during the preliminary investigation, but their counsel asked to be given until September 1 to file their counter-affidavits.
What happened before
In his complaint, Amith Prem pointed out that he was the rightful owner of a 438-square-meters and 437-square-meters parcels of land in Makati City. He alleged the properties were taken from him by his brother. Among the properties that he claimed were also illegally taken from him was a prime 1,559-square-meters lot in Cubao, Quezon City with Transfer Certificate of Title No.46459.
Amith said in his complaint that he was shocked after learning about the illegal transfer and eventual sale of the contested properties. The sale started around 2018, seven years after their father’s death.
The complainant claimed that by virtue of a Deed of Absolute Sale notarized on December 11, 2018, “the above mentioned property was allegedly sold by my (deceased) father for P85.745 million to Royal Brothers Realty & Development, which was owned by Rajiv.”
Using the same allegedly falsified documents, Rajiv allegedly succeeded in mortgaging the property while using the name of their dead father to the Land Bank of the Philippines. – Rappler.com