By Joel R. San Juan & Elijah F. Rosales
The government is looking inward and, apart from looking more closely into the activities of the police and their related agencies, has begun scrutinizing the activities of its customs and revenue people who may be in cahoots with large-scale tax cheats.
Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III made this clear on Tuesday, saying, “the bureaus of Internal Revenue [BIR] and of Customs [BOC] are now gathering evidence against certain parties for submission to the Department of Justice [DOJ]”.
“This is preparatory to the government’s filing of an air-tight case against Mighty Corp. for tax evasion and other possible charges.
“The government needs to first establish strong evidence to pin down this cigarette manufacturer on such charges,” Dominguez said. “We must make sure the charges stick not only to haul the guilty parties, including their possible cohorts in the government, into jail, but to send a clear message to big-time tax dodgers that the Duterte administration is dead set on putting an end to their nefarious activities and sending all of them behind bars.”
Dominguez issued the statement on the heels of his call on the BIR and BOC to file soon enough the appropriate charges against persons and companies proven to be the owners of P2.2 billion worth of smuggled and counterfeit tobacco products, shoes and clothes that government agents had seized in a series of raids.
Among the seized goods were cigarette brands manufactured by Mighty Corp. with fake-tax stamps that BOC operatives had seized in raids in Pampanga and the cities of General Santos and Zamboanga in Mindanao. “They [BOC and BIR] should speed up their investigations and also look into the possible involvement of bureaucrats acting as protectors of these large-scale tax-evasion attempts,” he said.
This developed even as Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador S. Panelo said President Duterte himself ordered the arrest of Mighty Corp. owner Alexander Wongchuking or alleged economic sabotage after the BOC confiscated P2.3 billion worth of Mighty-branded cigarettes with fake excise-stamp tax in a series of raid.
Dominguez said the Wongchuking case will send a “clear message to big-time tax dodgers that the Duterte administration is dead set on putting an end to their nefarious activities and sending all of them behind bars.”
“[Wongchuking] was ordered arrested by the President because of economic sabotage. Marami siyang ginagawang [ilegal] saka ipinangangalandakan niyang nabibili niya ang lahat ng opisyales dito sa bansa natin [He did many illegal activities. He even bragged he could buy any official in our country],” Panelo said in a statement.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) later confirmed that Wongchuking met with NBI Director Dante A. Gierran and expressed his willingness to cooperate in any investigation. Right after the meeting, the Mighty Corp. owner surrendered to Justice Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II.
In an interview with Malacañang reporters on Tuesday, Duterte admitted Wongchuking gave him a “gift”, but it was given one Christmas during his stint as Davao City mayor. Duterte made it clear “it was a Christmas gift” that he did not accept. From then on, Duterte already marked King as a man who will give gifts in exchange of favors.
“May hinihingi siyang pabor [that time], but I said I am not into it. Pagtayo niya, may naiwan doon [sa inupuan] niya [He was asking for a favor, and I said I am not into it. When he stood up, he left something where he sat],” Duterte said. Thinking it contained a liquor gift, the former Davao City mayor opened the package, only to discover a stack of money inside it. He then ordered one of his aides to return the gift to King.
Mighty denies bribery try
In a statement, Mighty Corp. said: “On the bribery attempt allegedly perpetrated by Mighty Corp., the company, through its counsel Atty. Sigfrid Fortun, categorically denied any occasion or participation by the company in the supposed incident.
Mighty has never taken part nor has it ever indulged in such activity, especially with officers of the incumbent administration.”
Fortun said it was plain that the information on the matter, as disclosed by Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo, is wrong as the news on the matter pertained to an incident when Duterte was still mayor of Davao City, the boxes of money used was promptly returned to the giver who was already onboard a plane bound for Manila.”
Wongchuking’s NBI ‘visit’
Wongchuking, accompanied by Fortun, sought an audience with Aguirre and Lavin on Tuesday.
Fortun, however, denied that the meeting was in connection with Duterte’s order for Wongchuking to be arrested for allegedly trying to bribe his way out of tax evasion and smuggling accusations being hurled against him by the BOC and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
“There is nothing to that effect [bribery]. So the company had decided to cooperate fully in accordance to what Secretary Aguirre had conveyed with regard to the wishes of the President,” Fortun said, adding what they discussed with Aguirre was related to the supposed excise-tax deficiencies of Mighty Corp.
Lavin, for his part, confirmed that Wongchuking was being “sought” by the NBI on Monday night upon the request of the BIR in connection with the tax-evasion issue being lodged against him.
“We do not have a warrant against the person of Mr. Wongchuking. He just showed up to express his willingness to cooperate in the investigation to be conducted by the NBI. He voluntarily came over to the NBI,” Lavin said. Lavin added he has no information about Duterte’s supposed order to arrest Wongchuking.
BOC to pursue case
Meanwhile, the BOC vowed to pursue charges against those involved in the manufacture of some P2.3 billion worth of cigarette products that were earlier seized in separate raids in warehouses inside the San Simon Industrial Park in Pampanga.
The Intelligence Group of the BOC is now gathering evidence for submission to the bureau’s Legal Service to build a case against those behind the importation of cigarettes bearing the name of Mighty Corp., as well as its product Marvel.
The BOC maintained that the bureau has the authority to seize smuggled cigarette packs bearing fake tax stamps found on the premises of cigarette manufacturing or storage facilities, or those found in the domestic market, pursuant to its border-security mandate under Executive Order (EO) 127 (Series of 1987) and in accordance with its powers and functions as a member-agency of the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) created by virtue of EO 624 (Series of 2007).
Thus, Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon said the subject raids were conducted in valid exercise of the BOC’s power to curb and eliminate smuggling, illegal importation and other forms of customs fraud.
“We are confident that, while the BOC is still conducting further investigation, there is already a strong tax-evasion case that the BIR can pursue, as this is outside our jurisdiction,” Faeldon pointed out.
‘Airtight’ case
Dominguez, meanwhile, said the BIR and the BOC have teamed up to strengthen the tax-evasion charges against cigarette manufacturer Mighty Corp.
In a news statement, the finance chief said the case against Mighty Corp. was “airtight” and the BIR and the BOC had teamed up to further cement the charges.
Dominguez said “the government needs to first establish strong evidence to pin down this cigarette manufacturer on such charges.”
“We must make sure the charges stick not only to haul [off] the guilty parties, including their possible cohorts in the government, into jail but to send a clear message to big-time tax dodgers that the Duterte administration is dead set on putting an end to their nefarious activities and sending all of them behind bars,” he said.
“They (BOC and BIR) should speed up their investigations and also look into the possible involvement of bureaucrats acting as protectors of these large-scale tax-evasion attempts,” he added.
With PNA