May 25, 2012

       Two (2) foreign nationals of firm which presented spurious investment offerings to the public were arrested by a joint team of National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) operatives in Pasig City last May 23, 2012.

       NBI Officer-in-Charge Atty. Nonnatus Caesar R. Rojas identified the suspect as: GARWOOD M. WEATHERHEAD, an American national and purported Head of Sales of SEANDAR Europe, INC. and SEANDAR Hongkong and TOMAS P. POKORNY, a Czeck Republic national and associate of Weatherhead.

  According to investigation report of the NBI Anti-Fraud Division headed by Atty. Cesar A. Bacani, on May 21, 2012, received a request from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seeking assistance for joint entrapment relative to the information that SEANDAR Europe Inc. and SEANDAR in Hongkong through Garwood Weatherhead was planning to conduct a presentation on their investment offering in SEANDAR's High Yield Principal Guaranteed Commodities (Fund) on May 23, 2012 at the Discovery Suites.

     Certification from the SEC bared that SEANDAR Europe and SEANDAR Hongkong were not registered issuers of securities pursuant to Sections 8 and 12 of the Securities Regulation Code and from their Company Registration and Monitoring Department (CRMD). It also confirm that Weatherhead is not licensed to engage in the buying and selling of securities in the Philippines as a broker, dealer or salesman. In the same Certification, the CRMD also stated that SEANDAR Europe and SEANDAR Hongkong were not licensed to act as a Broker, Dealer, Investment House, Investment Company Adviser, or Mutual Fund Distributor in the Philippines.

        Further, it was gathered from the SEC that based on e-mails from the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) and the Hongkong Securities and Futures Commission (HKSFC), stating that SEANDAR Europe, Inc. and SEANDAR Hongkong were not registered with the respective commissions. Moreover, the HKSFC also said that they did not license Mr. WEATHERHEAD and did not authorize the Fund as well.

     On May 23, 2012, pursuant to a Mission Order issued by MANUEL HUBERTO B. GAITE, Supervising Commissioner of SEC, NBI and SEC operatives conducted a joint entrapment operation at the Drake Function Room at the 42nd floor of the Discovery Suites, Pasig City. Some of the operatives attended SEANDAR's presentation where subjects GARWOOD M. WEATHERHEAD and TOMAS P. POKORNY, were subsequently apprehended by said operatives in flagrante delicto offering securities in the form of an investment contract to the public.

   Found and seized from Weatherhead and Pokorny: 1) one Acer laptop; 2) business cards of Weatherhead; 3) account application forms with risk disclosure statements; and 4) account application addendum forms.

   On May 24, 2012, Subjects GARWOOD M. WEATHERHEAD and TOMAS POKORNY were brought before the Deparment of Justice Task Force on Securities Fraud for inquest proceedings.