Mighty faces more tax cases

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is preparing to file at least three more tax evasion cases against homegrown cigarette manufacturer Mighty Corp. on top of a plan to cancel the firm’s license to operate.

Internal Revenue Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay told reporters yesterday that the BIR would prioritize filing charges against Mighty, with separate cases to be filed before the Department of Justice for each of the series of raids that yielded Mighty cigarette packs with fake tax stamps, given different circumstances for each raid.

Besides the raid at Mighty’s warehouses in Pampanga, which was the basis of the P9.56-billion tax evasion case filed last month, the BIR and the Bureau of Customs also discovered counterfeit stamps affixed on products seized in Zamboanga, General Santos City, Cebu, Tacloban City and Bulacan during the past two months.

Dulay noted that the raid in San Ildefonso, Bulacan, had three times bigger haul than that in Pampanga, with the confiscated cigarette packs in the latest raid assessed to have had P2.4 billion in unpaid taxes.

Dulay said the BIR might file a P27-billion to 30-billion tax evasion case against Mighty for the Bulacan raid alone.

As for any compromise settlement with Mighty, Dulay said that President Duterte was right that tax cases could be settled through a compromise deal.

“[Finance] Secretary [Carlos G.] Dominguez [III] was also right that before they can be compromised, they have to go through the process. It’s something that can be discussed,” Dulay said.

But Dulay said compromise settlement was still far from the BIR’s mind at present as they were still building up the cases. “You cannot compromise without a tax case, as far as the BIR is concerned,” Dulay said.

The BIR chief said they were also looking at canceling Mighty’s license to operate. “Because there was a violation of the Tax Code, we’re also looking into that,” he said.

Last week, Dominguez said Mighty would not get special treatment from the government as he expressed confidence that strong evidence would pin down the Bulacan-based firm.

“The rule of law must be applied equally. All kinds of crime must face swift and sure justice, and Mighty is no exception. Those fraudulent tax stamps represent billions of pesos worth of theft from the Filipino people,” Dominguez said.

Dominguez said that while Mighty executives “will have their constitutional opportunity to prove their innocence,” the evidence gathered by the BIR and the BOC “seems to overwhelmingly point to their guilt.”

Also party to the tax evasion case were Mighty president Edilberto P. Adan, executive vice president Oscar P. Barrientos, vice president for external affairs and assistant corporate secretary Alexander D. Wongchuking and treasurer Ernesto A. Victa.

As such, Mighty, which the government has vowed to haleto court for using fake cigarette tax stamps, would get no special treatment from the DOF, the BIR or the BOC, the finance chief said.

“Rest assured, we are pursuing this case in consideration of the magnitude of what has been deprived from the Filipino people,” the finance chief added.

Dominguez had also said that “any settlement [with Mighty] is now out of the question until the courts say so.”