(Eagle News) – The Department of Finance said it would file criminal charges against public officials and private individuals involved in an P11 billion tax credit scam that happened from 2008 to 2014 which was recently uncovered by state auditors.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III made the announcement as the department said there were public officials and private individuals who have unduly benefited from the issuance of over P11 billion-worth of tax credit certificates (TCCs) to ineligible and non-existent textile companies between 2008 and 2014.
Dominguez said he has also directed a high-level task force within the Department to recover the value of P11.18 billion-worth of undue tax credits granted to these firms by the One-Stop Shop Inter-Agency and Duty Drawback Center (OSS) during the six-year period.
The task group members include Finance Undersecretaries Antonette Tionko, who heads the DOF’s Revenue Operations Group; Bayani Agabin, who heads the Legal Affairs Group; and Gil Beltran, who heads the Policy Development and Management Services Group.
“Expect this Department to pursue the appropriate charges against the public officers and private persons who manipulated and unjustly benefited from the tax credit process with the OSS,” Dominguez said in a press conference Friday afternoon at the DOF main office in Manila.
Dominguez said the DOF task force was created in response to the findings of the Commission on Audit (COA) in a July 6, 2018 report on the erroneous issuance of 3,231 TCCs by the OSS from 2008 to 2014.
According to the COA findings, P8.85 billion in tax credits were overstated and supported by spurious documents, and another P2.34 billion in TCCs were granted to claimants whose fiscal incentives have already expired.
A copy of the COA report, Dominguez said, has been turned over to the Board of Investments (BOI) “for appropriate action against the accredited enterprises.”
The DOF has yet to release the names of the public officials and private individuals who were involved in this multi-billion tax credit scam.
