Fraud raps filed vs immigration consultancy firm

THE Consulate General of the Philippines said complaints of aggravated fraud have been filed before the Office of the Public Prosecutor of Milan against Diane Kristine Respicio and John Dutaro, chief executive officers of the immigration consultancy firm Alpha Assistenza SRL.

The first 11 complaints were filed by Atty. Bruno De Blasi, the Italian lawyer hired by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to represent 100 Filipino complainants based in Italy in the class suit against Respicio, Dutaro, and others allegedly involved in defrauding 269 Filipinos in the Philippines seeking work in Italy under the decreto flussi program.

De Blasi is set to file additional complaints in the coming days before the Office of the Public Prosecutor, which is expected to review the complaints and decide whether to bring the case to trial.

The filing of the complaints comes less than two weeks after the Consulate tapped De Blasi as legal representative of the 100 Filipinos who wanted to take Respicio, Dutaro, and others to court for allegedly failing to deliver the promised jobs for their relatives that they paid as much as 3,000 Euros each.

The hiring of a lawyer to represent complainants was among the recommendations made by the Consulate when it started an investigation on the alleged fraudulent transactions involving Alpha Assistenza.

The recommendation, which was made by Consul General Elmer Cato, was approved by Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo upon the endorsement of Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Jose Eduardo De Vega.