FILIPINO-Indian businessman Rajiv Chandiramani has denied the multiple counts of falsification of public documents charges filed by his brother against him, their mother, and several others in relation to the alleged transfer and sale of billions of pesos worth of real estate assets and business interests owned by their late father.
In a 23-page counter-affidavit submitted on August 31 to the Department of Justice (DOJ), Rajiv said he was not the villain that his brother, Amith, has portrayed him to be.
“I vehemently and categorically deny that there is any falsification and or that I authored the purported acts of falsification,” Rajiv said.
He added the charges filed by Amith with the DOJ was a “rehashed” version of what had already been junked by the Makati City Prosecutor’s Office last year.
“This is a resurrected falsification complaint which serves no other purpose than to compel herein respondent to give in to Amith’s demand for more money,” Rajiv said.
Amith had filed multiple counts of falsification of public documents against Rajiv, their mother Puspha, and alleged cohorts Janet Cardinal, Maria Anita Tuqueza, Rommel Olaybar, Christina Gutierrez, and Angelito Manuel for allegedly conniving to deprive him of his inheritance from their father, Prem, who died in 2011.
The DOJ last month started its preliminary investigation into the complaint filed by Amith.
Amith had accused the respondents of conspiring with one another on various occasions in effecting the illegal transfer to Rajiv of several properties that were lawfully willed to him before their father died on December 26, 2011.
Amith claimed the illegal transfer and eventual sale of the properties allegedly started sometime in 2018 and the succeeding years when their father was already dead for more than seven years.
Among the properties that he said were supposedly illegally taken from him by the respondents was a prime 1,559 square meters lot in Cubao, Quezon City with Transfer Certificate of Title No.46459.
He said that his brother supposedly mortgaged the property using “falsified documents” and using the name of their dead father to the Land Bank of the Philippines for P192.761 million.
He said his brother also purportedly took away from him another 660 square-meter property in Cubao, Quezon City after “his father allegedly sold it to MyView Philippines Inc. for P32.5 million on November 19, 2019.”
He also said that two more parcels of land — a 438 square meters and another 437 square meters — in Makati City were also allegedly taken away from him by his brother and were mortgaged for P16 million and P30 million, respectively.
Rajiv said his brother’s “bare imputations” cannot overcome the prima facie presumption of authenticity and due execution of the sale and mortgage documents, which he added, were all duly notarized and enjoys presumptive validity.
“As the evidence will show, Amith had acted in utter bad faith and had knowingly made untruthful and deceitful allegations in his complaint affidavit. In doing so, he has resurrected and re-filed the same falsification complaint that was earlier dismissed by the Makati City Prosecutors Office,” Rajiv said.
He said they have previously approved a compromise agreement for the mutual withdrawal of the cases that they filed against each other at the time, as well as a waiver and quitclaim covering any and all potential claims or rights arising from, or in connection with the estate of their late father.
Rajiv said he has also paid his brother the P150 million as agreed in the compromise deal.
As part of the agreement, Amith acknowledged the ownership of and better right of his brother over the properties listed in the agreement.
“Thus, Amith is legally barred from claiming there were falsified signatures as appearing in the subject documents and if the court were to rule otherwise, then, in effect, it would be disregarding the explicit agreement of the parties in their compromise agreement and would be ignoring the legal implications of the desistance and waiver executed by Amith,” Rajiv said in his counter-affidavit.
“The compromise agreement has already been partially enforced and implemented, as in fact, the cases listed in the compromise agreement have been withdrawn and or dismissed and Rajiv has been complying with his contractual undertakings in providing Amith with monthly support of P600,000, including giving financial assistance for Amith to put up his own electronics trading business. By April 2023, as part of the compromise agreement, Rajiv gave Amith more than P9 million in cash,” he added.
Rajiv asked the DOJ to junk the case filed by his brother, saying he has come to the department with “unclean hands” aside from being precluded from seeking any equitable relief due to the compromise agreement that both of them have previously signed.
“If this Honorable Office were to rule otherwise, then, in effect, this Honorable Office would be disregarding the explicit agreement of Amith and Rajiv in their compromise agreement and would be ignoring the legal implications of the desistance and the waiver executed by Amith,” he added.
