Mall owner: Mighty using fake stamps

The operator of the mall where cigarettes produced by Mighty Corp. were found bearing fake tax stamps early this month pointed to the Bulacan-based manufacturer as the direct source of the products in question.

“We confirm that the products of Mighty, which were seized by your [Bureau of Internal Revenue] examiners, were purchased directly by our company from Mighty Corp., as borne by our records,” Metro Retail Stores Group Inc. president and CEO Arthur Emmanuel alleged in a February 15 letter to BIR Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay.

As proof, Emmanuel indicated Mighty’s tax identification number (TIN) in his letter to Dulay.

During a probe at Super Metro Mandaue Store in Mandaue City last Feb. 8, personnel from the BIR’s Cebu City-based Revenue Region No. 13 seized seven master cases of Mighty’s green hard menthol cigarettes, 58 master cases of the white soft menthol, and 99 master cases of the red full flavor.

The BIR also confiscated 337 loose packs of the green hard menthol variant, 362 packs of the white soft menthol, as well as 203 packs of the red full flavor of Mighty.

All these Mighty products were found with fake cigarette tax stamps, the BIR had alleged in an earlier report.

A master case contains 50 reams or cartons, while each ream has 10 packs.

At an excise tax of P30 per pack, foregone revenues from the confiscated products—a total of 82,902 packs—will reach P2.49 million.

“Other cigarette brands from other suppliers were also checked and the tax stamps were found to be genuine,” Emmanuel said.

“Our company will continue to support the efforts of the BIR to eliminate illegal cigarettes with fake tax stamps from the trade so that government can raise revenues to deliver necessary services to our people.”

Industry sources earlier told the Inquirer that Metro Retail was willing to cooperate in the investigation, but some BIR officials allegedly wanted to charge the mall, and not Mighty.