THE Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) has dismissed the P44.71-million tax evasion cases filed against alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.
In an 84-page decision penned by Associate Justice Corazon Ferrer-Flores, the CTA’s Second Division said the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) failed to prove Napoles’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt to warrant her conviction for 12 counts of tax evasion.
The cases covered the years 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.
Napoles, was accused of violating Sections 254 (Attempt to Evade or Defeat Tax) and 255 (Failure to File Return, Supply Correct and Accurate Information, Pay Tax, Withhold and Remit Tax and Refund Excess Taxes Withheld on Compensation) of the NIRC of 1997.
The complaint alleged, among others, that Napoles substantially underdeclared her income in the ITRs for the years 2004 to 2009.
Napoles is also accused of failure to file her ITRs for the years 2010 to 2012 and pay the correct amount of tax due.
During investigation by the BIR it was gathered that Napoles, along with her husband Jaime Napoles, were able to purchase real properties, a number of motor vehicles, several insurance policies and club shares and that they invested millions of pesos in various corporations, which they could not have possibly acquired given the income they stated in their ITRs.
Napoles’s declared income for the years 1999 to 2009 was only P3.74 million.
However, the CTA ruled that the BIR failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt the crimes charged against Napoles.
“Prosecution bears the burden of proving beyond reasonable doubt that an accused is guilty of the offense charged. Should it fail, the presumption of innocence prevails and, ultimately, the accused shall be acquitted. Requiring proof beyond reasonable doubt is consistent with our constitutionally guaranteed rights,” the CA said.
“After careful consideration of the evidence presented by the plaintiff and the accused, the Court finds that the plaintiff failed to discharge the burden to prove the elements of the crimes charged against accused with proof beyond reasonable doubt,” it added.
The CTA said based on its review of the records, the documents presented by the BIR such as certifications, transfer certificate titles, General Information Sheet (GIS), Deeds of Absolute Sale, and car registration “are hardly evidence of a likely source of income.”
“While plaintiff presented various registration documents of the companies/foundations in which accused Napoles invested, no other evidence was presented to show the capacity of these entities to generate income from which accused Napoles may have sourced substantial income which she failed to declare in her ITR,” the CTA declared.
“Even assuming that accused earned income from these investments, such income will be in the nature of dividends which is considered passive income. In that case, the passive income is not required to be declared in her ITR as the same is subject to final tax,” it added.
Napoles is currently detained at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City to serve the reclusion perpetua sentence imposed on her after being found guilty of serious illegal detention filed by her second cousin and former employee Benhur Luy.
Napoles is also facing multiple plunder and graft charges before the Sandiganbayan for masterminding the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam.