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Thursday, June 16, 2005
Agriculture chief charged with tax evasion
MANILA (Updated 3:00 p.m.) -- A Cabinet official of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was charged Thursday for underdeclaring the value of a P20 million worth of property in Pasig City resulting to the nonpayment of more than P3 million in taxes.
The filing of the charges came at a time when Arroyo congratulated the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for an 18 percent tax collection efficiency for the month of May.
The BIR filed on Thursday tax evasion charges against Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap before the Department of Justice (DOJ). Also impleaded in the same complaint is Yap's father, Domingo, the president of DHY Realty and Development Corporation.
BIR Commissioner Guillermo Parayno interviewed over ABS-CBN's news channel made it clear though that the alleged fraud committed by the corporation happened in 1998 when Yap is not yet a cabinet official.
DHY Realty reportedly underdeclared the purchase value of the Pasig property in 1997. Investigators found that Yap declared the 20.6 million property to be worth only P1 million in one of the three absolute deeds of sale.
The two other deeds of sale valued the property at P14.2 million and P12.7 million respectively.
In underdeclaring the value of the property Yap's company was only able to pay P18,000 in documentary stamps instead of P923,818 for the P20 million worth of property. Yap also owed the government P3 million in withholding taxes from the undervalued property.
However, Secretary Yap in a press statement made it clear that the questioned transaction happened from 1997 to 1998 when he was still a member of the private sector.
"My personality is separate from the corporation because I didn't buy that property, it's the corporation. I don't know why I am sued for tax evasion and I also don't know why we should be paying it when it should be the seller who should be paying it," Yap said.
The agriculture secretary explained that under the category of capital gains, the seller of the property had the obligation to pay the corresponding tax liabilities and not them.
Yap said the alleged tax liabilities if there are tax liabilities are those of our family corporations and not mine.
"It is untrue that these alleged liabilities are to our personal account. Personally we are not remiss in our faithful payment of taxes to the government and this is burnt out by our submission of our true and correct statement of assets and liabilities and income tax returns to the government agencies concerned," he said.
"I have divested myself of any ownership, interest or position in this family corporation and our other family owned businesses. I did this when I joined the government and this is also adequately reflected in the documents I have submitted to government agencies showing my complete divestment from these interests," Yap added.
The agriculture secretary reasoned out that while he was indeed an officer of the family corporation and a signatory to the purchase by the company of the above property his rule in the transaction was mainly ministerial.
"As a recall it , this transaction was handled by an external legal counsel whose responsibility was to ensure that the corporation purchase of the property was completely regular and in full compliance with all laws," he said.
"This transaction happened from 1997 to 1998 and I do not remember all its details considering that this was seven to eight years ago. I also understand that the family corporation has been in communication for sometime now with the BIR for the full payment and settlement of tax liabilities that may have risen from this transaction. For this reason the corporation’s lawyers themselves were at a loss why a case has been filed at this time when they are still in the process of submitting pertinent documents to the BIR," Yap added.
Parayno on the other hand explained that based on the evaluation of the investigating team, fraud was committed by the Yaps in the undervalued property prompting his office to file the necessary criminal case before the DOJ.
He added that the case is not a matter of tax deficiencies that can be remedied by paying the corresponding tax liabilities.
Parayno said he considered talking to Secretary Yap about the matter taking into consideration his position and the sensitivity of the issue.
Unfortunately the time for filing the case has come and his request for an appointment with Secretary Yap has not been given.
If found guilty Yap will face the penalty of imprisonment and the payment of the corresponding tax liabilities. (Sunnex) |
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