THE Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) hopes to demonstrate the soundness of its investment process in the course of an investigation into its purchase of a stake in Alternergy Holdings Corp., its suspended president said.
“We acknowledge the Office of the Ombudsman’s inquiry into GSIS’s Alternergy investment and are cooperating fully with the investigation. We welcome this opportunity to affirm the integrity of GSIS’s investment decisions and will provide further updates once the process concludes,” according to suspended GSIS President and General Manager Jose Arnulfo A. Veloso.
The Department of Finance has also signaled plans to launch its own investigation into GSIS.
Along with six other officials, Mr. Veloso was placed under preventive suspension without pay for six months by the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the pension fund’s purchase of preferred Alternergy shares via private placement for P1.45 billion.
Mr. Veloso has said that he is waiting for the Ombudsman to acknowledge the counter-affidavit he has filed.
The Ombudsman said its preliminary findings indicate that the shares, acquired on Nov. 7, 2023, were purchased without the approval of the GSIS board of trustees, or the endorsement of the assets and liabilities and risk oversight committees.
The investigation also found that the perpetual preferred shares were not listed with the Philippine Stock Exchange at the date of the transaction.
Other suspended officials were GSIS Executive Vice-Presidents Michael M. Praxedes and Jason C. Teng, Vice-Presidents Aaron Samuel Chan and Mary Abigail V. Cruz-Francisco, Officer II Jaime Leon K. Warren, and Acting Office IV Alfredo Pablo.
The pension fund on Tuesday appointed Executive Vice-President for Support Services Juliet M. Bautista as its officer in charge. — Aaron Michael C. Sy