BIR slaps shabu smuggling 'players' with tax evasion raps

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Internal Revenue on Wednesday slapped import broker Mark Taguba and businessman Kenneth Dong with multimillion-peso tax cases.

Internal Revenue Commissioner Caesar Dulay, in a press conference at the Department of Justice, said that Taguba owes the government P850 million in taxes while Dong evaded payment of P11.4 million in taxes.

Taguba and Dong stand accused of smuggling 600 kilograms of shabu — around P6.4 billion worth — into the country last year.

Both testified in congressional hearings on the shipment that slipped past through the Bureau of Customs but was later seized in a Customs-led raid.. The BIR said the cases against the two were prompted by their testimonies before lawmakers.

READ: DOJ drops drug raps vs Faeldon

Taguba faces P850-million tax case

Taguba earlier claimed to be a businessman engaged in the trucking business, but it was later found that he "was actually a 'player' or 'fixer' in the BOC who facilitated the importation into the Philippines of goods of all kinds for a certain fee," the BIR said.

The bureau said that Taguba failed to register his importation and trucking businesses.

It was also found out that Taguba "did not file any Income Tax Returns for the years 2009 to 2016 as per records."

"As consequence of his acts and omissions, respondent Taguba evaded the payment of taxes for taxable year 2016 in the aggregate amount of P850,574,228.77, inclusive of surcharges and interests, broken down into: Income Tax — P660,758,572.33 and Value Added Tax P189,815,656.44," the BIR said.

Dong facing P11 million tax case

Dong, meanwhile is facing a P11 billion tax case for failing to file any income tax return, value-added tax return or percentage tax return for the years of 2003 to 2017.

The BIR said that Dong admitted to being one of Taguba's clients.

"As a consequence of his acts and omissions, Dong evaded the payment of income tax in the total amount of P11,406,940.60, inclusive of surcharges and interests, broken down into: 2013 — P3,907,971.98 and 2016 — P7,498,968.59," the BIR statement reads.

The tax evasion raps come on top of the drug importation charges filed by the Department of Justice.

The Office of the Ombudsman, for its part, said on November 7 that it has "created a panel to conduct a fact-finding investigation into alleged anomalies in the release of P6.4 billion worth of metamphetamine or 'shabu,' through the green lane (sic) of Bureau of Customs."

The announcement comes days after President Rodrigo Duterte said that he will leave the investigation of allegations that his son Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte and son-in-law Manases "Mans" Carpio are involved in the case to independent agencies.