Thursday, January 03, 2008 City Hall to go after computer supplier
ASIDE from facing a criminal complaint for a P23.4-million computer transaction with the Lapu-Lapu City Government, Kein Enterprises’ owner may also have to face the anger of the Cebu City Government.
This, after the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR)-Mandaue City informed the Cebu City Treasurer’s Office (CTO) that Kein Enterprises is not listed as having a branch in Lapu-Lapu City.
“BIR’s answer was Cebu City ra registered ang Kein, no branch in Lapu-Lapu City,” said Cebu City Treasurer Tessie Camarillo.
Mayor Tomas Osmeña earlier ordered the City Attorney’s Office to file complaints for tax evasion and falsification of public documents against the establishment’s owner.
But City Attorney Rodolfo Golez said they could not file criminal complaints without a CTO endorsement.
The CTO assigned three auditors to look into Kein’s books of account last October but Camarillo said it will take months to finish the examination.
Yesterday, she said they stopped going over Kein’s books because of the lack of other documents it submitted to other investigating agencies, like the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas.
The anti-graft office last December found grounds to upgrade into a formal criminal charge the complaint against Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza and 19 others for the allegedly overpriced computers purchased in 2005.
Camarillo said they will “exchange” documents with the ombudsman so it could proceed with its own investigation.
Last September, the CTO wrote the BIR-Mandaue revenue district, which has jurisdiction over Lapu-Lapu City, and the Lapu-Lapu City Hall to issue certifications on whether Kein Enterprises has a branch in Lapu-Lapu City.
Income
Camarillo said her office has not received a response from her Lapu-Lapu City counterpart as of yesterday morning.
The BIR certification will serve as basis for Camarillo to declare whether the owner understated the firm’s income to avoid paying higher taxes to Cebu City.
Kein Enterprises, which holds office in Barangay Camputhaw, Cebu City, declared a gross sales of P4.82 million for 2006 and P4,195,346 for 2005, the same year it sold P24 million worth of personal computers to the Lapu-Lapu City Government.
The sale became the subject of an ombudsman inquiry after a private foundation asked the anti-graft office to look into it.
The foundation alleged anomalies in the purchase of what it described as overpriced personal computers by the Lapu-Lapu City Government for its public high schools.
Lapu-Lapu spent P23,476,500, or about P50,000 for each of the 470 PCs that, at the time of the purchase, were allegedly worth less than half the unit price.
Valencia told City Hall in a letter that they did not declare the P23.4 million income because it was earned by their Lapu-Lapu branch. (RHM)
