Before high-flying wealth management executive Brian Ang became a fugitive, the ex-Citibanker bought a Mercedes Benz, but this vehicle was returned to the dealer.
Whether it was sent back because Ang—described in the news as having a penchant for new and shiny things—changed his mind or was in the process of liquidating assets in anticipation of some brewing legal trouble, we’re not sure. What was clear was that the car, a 2010 MB C200, was resold by the dealer to another businessman in April 2010.
Although the buyer had the official receipt from the broker, however, he was unable to file for registration of the pre-owned car into his name immediately. The car, it turned out, was already covered by a court freeze order.
The pricey vehicle was placed under alarm by the Land Transportation Office pursuant to a March 2012 order of the Court of Appeals.
Since Ang has since then been accused of swindling upscale clients—reportedly to the tune of P300 million and is now at large —his assets were frozen and, unfortunately, the freeze order included the Mercedes Benz that now technically belonged to another person.
Needless to say, the buyer is now at a loss. All he has is the official receipt to prove his acquisition of the car. On the other hand, the lawyers of the car dealer were of the view that the they had no liability in this even if the buyer dealt not with Ang but with the dealer through its pre-owned facility.
So what is the buyer’s recourse in this? That’s the legal question. Doris C. Dumlao
Gold, gone
As had been reported in the news, sales of gold by small-scale miners to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has dropped sharply since the Bureau of Internal Revenue started levying excise and withholding taxes on transactions of the precious metal last year.
According to our source, the volume of gold bought by the Bangko Sentral from these miners has dropped by approximately 90 percent since the new rules came into force.
The law mandates, of course, that these taxes—worth 7 percent of the total transaction value—be collected from gold miners and traders, but tax authorities have apparently been unable to enforce it in recent years.
So their solution? Go to the Bangko Sentral where it is easier to collect.
Flabbergasted at the sudden shift in collection policy, the Bangko Sentral sued the BIR before the Court of Tax Appeals, which ruled in favor of the latter. (Bangko Sentral authorities decided against elevating the case to the Supreme Court “since we’re all on the side of the government in this, anyway,” said one senior monetary official.)
But because of the legal loss, the Bangko Sentral had to shell out P2.8 billion to the BIR to settle the tax liability that the gold miners and traders should have paid in recent years.
Not wanting to be left taking the losses, the Bangko Sentral decided to impose the new tax on all subsequent gold transactions. The result: Gold traders fled to the black market, and smuggling became rampant, thanks to the new tax collection method.
There is another downside to the prevailing taxation method.
The Bangko Sentral is an internationally accredited gold refiner—a coveted status that is bestowed by a London-based precious metals organization. To maintain this status, the Bangko Sentral has to refine and process a certain number of gold bars every year. But because it no longer has any gold to process, the central bank is in danger of being stripped of this accreditation.
The result? “Without this accreditation, the Philippines will have to pay more to have gold processed overseas,” one source said. “This is a big blow to us.”
Perhaps it’s time that the taxation method be revisited or amended by the Congress. Daxim L. Lucas
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