Deniece posts P12,000 bail for grave coercion raps

MANILA, Philippines - Model Deniece Cornejo and another accused in the grave coercion charges filed by comedian Vhong Navarro had posted bail for their temporary liberty, court sources said yesterday.

The source said Cornejo and Jed Fernandez each posted P12,000 bail at the Taguig Metropolitan Trial Court (MTC) Branch 74 for the grave coercion charges.

The Taguig Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 171 is set to resolve the motion of Cornejo, businessman Cedric Lee and five other accused for judicial determination of probable cause in the separate non-bailable charges of serious illegal Y detention filed by Navarro.

Radio station dzMM reported that Cornejo posted bail at the MTC yesterday morning, while Fernandez reportedly posted his bail the other day.

Court officials could not be reached for confirmation of the posting of bail.

On Tuesday, the Taguig RTC and MTC issued a gag order on the grave coercion and serious illegal detention cases filed against Lee, Cornejo, Fernandez, Lee’s sister Bernice, Simeon “Zimmer” Raz, Jose Paolo Calma and Ferdinand Guerrero.

Both defense and prosecution lawyers declined to give details on Tuesday’s hearing on the motion of the defense for judicial determination of probable cause on the illegal detention charge filed before RTC branch 171.

Prior to the 1:30 p.m. hearing, security guards barred reporters at the entrance of the Taguig Hall of Justice.

Lee summoned on tax evasion raps

The Department of Justice (DOJ) also summoned Lee in its preliminary investigation on the P194.47-million tax evasion charges the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) filed against him last month.

In a subpoena issued by Assistant State Prosecutor Stewart Allan Mariano, Lee was ordered to appear before the DOJ at 2 p.m. on April 28.

Lee was likewise required to answer the charges and file his counter-affidavit to the BIR’s complaint.

Mariano said the hearing was initially set last April 11, but Lee’s lawyer Howard Calleja sought a postponement of proceedings to a later date due to his client’s indictment in the separate serious illegal detention and grave coercion cases filed by the DOJ before the Taguig City RTC and MTC.

The prosecutor granted the request and set the hearing on April 28.

Lee was sued by the BIR last March 27 after his firm, Izumo Contractors, allegedly evaded tax payments for four years amounting to P194.47 million.

Izumo’s chief operating officer John Ong and finance officer Judy Gutierrez Lee were also named respondents in the complaint.

The case stemmed from information received by the BIR that Izumo, a construction firm located in the Ortigas business district, was not paying correct taxes.

The BIR probe showed that Izumo failed to provide accurate information in the company’s annual income tax returns from 2006 to 2009.

Izumo declared an income of P76.22 million during the three-year period but certifications secured by the BIR from the company’s clients showed it had earned more than P302.6 million, thereby under-declaring sales by more than P226 million.  – With Edu Punay