P61-M Tax Evasion Charges Filed vs Napoles Couple

The Bureau of Internal Revenue filed a P61-million tax evasion charges against pork barrel scam suspect Janet Lim-Napoles and her husband Jaime on Thursday.

BIR chief Kim Jacinto-Henares said Mrs. Napoles has a tax liability of P44.68 million, while her husband owes the government P16.43 million in taxes, Gma news online reported.

The Napoles couple, Henares added, were charged with willful attempt to evade tax payment for taxable years 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012.

The Bureau also accused Napoles of either failing to file an income tax return from 2010 to 2012 or supplying incorrect information in her ITRs in 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2009.

Henares said the BIR’s investigation found out that Napoles’ acquisitions amounted to P4.17 million in 2004, P22.29 million in 2006, P4.35 million in 2008, P9.84 million in 2009, P6.33 million in 2010, P5.64 million in 2011, and P6.89 million in 2012.

Despite these “acquisitions” consisting of condominium units, parcels of land, and vehicles, Napoles had only declared an income of P195,800 in 2004 and 100,744.59 in 2008, Gma news online report said.

The Bureau has said that in 2006 and 2009, Mrs. Napoles declared a “P0.00” income.

Napoles also did not file any ITRs for the years 2010, 2011, and 2012.

As for Mr. Napoles, his acquisitions amounted to P1.42 million in 2004, P5.51 million in 2006, P780,000 in 2008, P9.25 million in 2009, P2.1 million in 2010, P1.17 million in 2011 and P3.65 million in 2012, Gma news online said.

In contrast, Mr. Napoles did not file any ITRs for these years, except for taxable year 2009 where he declared nothing.

Reports said Mrs. Napoles’ acquisitions included condominium units in City and Land Mega Plaza and the Discovery Center, parcels of land in Pangasinan and Kidapawan City, insurance policies with Insular Life Assurance Co Ltd, Philippine American Life and General Insurance Co Inc, and Philippine Axa Life Insurance Corp and vehicles such as Ford Lincoln Navigator, Honda Civic and Porsche Cayenne.

The BIR said Mrs. Napoles declared “sole proprietorship of merchandising goods” as source of her income. Her tax registration was then cancelled in 2010, Gma news online said.

Napoles’ counsel, Atty. Lorna Kapunan said the case is a ‘simple misdeclaration and will be addressed in due time.

Kapunan challenged Henares that if the tax evasion complaint is related to the plunder charge, then the net worth of 38 other respondents should also be looked into, Gma news online reported.

“Alam mo naalala ko yung privilege speech ni Senator Jinggoy [Estrada] kahapon at mayroon siyang quotable quote doon, ang sinabi niya, ‘selective justice is injustice’,” Kapunan noted. “We are also calling on the equal protection clause, na sana tignan rin ang net worth [ng iba].”

Kapunan added that that “from the start, (we have said) that this is an issue of tax evasion or statement of facts.” Kapunan also said that with the newly filed complaint, ” the public is now confused.”

“She [Napoles] is not being detained for plunder although people are already assuming that because she is detained, she is the most guilty in this criminal case for plunder pending investigation with the Ombudsman. So naco-confuse ang public,” Kapunan said.

Napoles is currently detained at Fort Sto. Domingo in Sta. Rosa, Laguna on a serious illegal detention case filed before the Makati Regional Trial Court.

The National Bureau of Investigation had included her in the plunder complaint filed with the Office of the Ombudsman, along with other respondents including Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla Jr., Gma news online reported.
Moreover, Henares refused to comment on whether public officials implicated in the pork barrel scam would likewise be subjects of the BIR’s tax probe, saying it was “confidential.”

“When we investigate, it is objective. The BIR is not a political institution. It’s an implementing institution. We look at things based on evidence and file cases on what evidence tells us,” Henares said.

The BIR Chief added the BIR is also monitoring the progress of the separate malversation charges that have been filed or would be filed against public officials linked in the fund scam.

“Ang tanong kasi kung magfa-file pa kami ng tax evasion (sa public officials) kasi sa malversation lahat forfeited na. Lahat ng pera ibabalik mo sa gobyerno. So gagamitin pa ba namin ang resources ng government uli para habulin iyon,” she said.

“Siguro puwedeng sabayin namin. Pero kung may conviction na sa malversation baka hindi na kami magfa-file,” Henares added.

The BIR chief also said the agency’s separate probe on Napoles’ properties abroad is “ongoing” but refused to identify which foreign agencies the Philippine government is coordinating, Gma news online reported.

Source: Gma news Online