Sandigan orders suspension of 3 DOF execs over tax credit scam

MANILA, Philippines – The Sandiganbayan has ordered the suspension of three officers of the Department of Finance (DOF) who are facing graft charges in relation to several tax credit scams pending with the anti-graft court.

In an April 30 resolution, the Sandiganbayan second division ruled in favor of the prosecution’s motion to suspend for three months the three accused: supervising tax specialist Asuncion Magdaet, tax specialist Purita Napenas, and administrative aide Emelita Tizon — all of the one-stop inter-agency tax credit and duty drawback center of DOF.

The court ordered the suspension after the three DOF officers failed to comment on the motion filed by the prosecution on Dec. 18 last year. The suspension order, however, came eight years after the charges against the accused were filed before the anti-graft court.

“Any public officer against whom any criminal prosecution under a valid information under this Act or under the provisions of the Revised Penal Code on bribery is pending in court, shall be suspended from office,” the anti-graft court said in its ruling.

“Should he be convicted by final judgment, he shall lose all retirement or gratuity benefits under any law, but if he is acquitted, he shall be entitled to reinstatement and to the salaries and benefits which he failed to receive during suspension, unless in the meantime administrative proceedings have been filed against him,” the resolution said, citing Section 13 of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

Magdaet faces four counts of estafa and another four counts of graft before the court’s second division. Napenas and Tizon, on the other hand, are facing two counts each of estafa and graft and one count each of estafa and graft, respectively.

Magdaet and Tizon were among the accused in graft charges in relation to tax credit scam involving Filstar, one of the companies owned or controlled by DKC Holdings Corp. that supposedly defrauded the government of more than P288 million in taxes from August 1994 to September 1996.

It was alleged that the company falsely claimed that it received cotton deliveries from FLB International Corp. and Northern Cotton Corp. in securing the TCCs.

The DOF officers supposedly failed to do their job of evaluating and reviewing Filstar’s fictitious exports as stipulated in the operations manual for textile advance tax credit scheme.

Napenas, on the other hand, was tagged in a tax credit scam involving Proton Pilipinas Corp., a company that illegally purchased TCCs worth P7.2 million from obscure garment firms in 1998.