Manila, Philippines — The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) ordered the conduct of tax audit activities on Vice President Sara Duterte, her husband Atty. Mans Carpio, and nine companies linked with them.
This follows the issuance of Letters of Allowances (LoAs) authorizing tax audit on the couple, after BIR determined probable cause to conduct audit investigation on their financial records.
BIR noted that the LOA issuance is based on third-party information, as well as information from publicly available documents and official sources, authorized under Section 5 of National Internal Revenue Code.
BIR likewise considered the testimony of the Office of the Ombudsman in regards to Duterte’s Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Networth (SALN), as well as the disclosures of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) during last week’s hearing of the House Justice Committee.
Aside from the couple, the LoA was also issued for nine business entities linked with them, including:
– Carpio lawyers
– Zelta Matiem Salon
– City Hall King Chow Foods Corporation
– Davao Bounty Times Food Corporation
– Madayaw Fisheries Inc.
– Amianan Shores Inc.
– Cale88 Foods Corporation
– Geometry Security and Investigation Agency Inc.
LOA authorizes the review of the taxpayers’ bank accounts and other accounting records.
BIR however clarified that the issuance of LOA does not equate liability, rather a step to determine if due taxes are properly handled.
Duterte has since denied the allegations following the AmLC’s disclosures.
In her defense, she emphasized that all her assets were obtained in legal and legitimate ways, with documents to support it.
On Monday, Carpio filed cases against Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Eli Remolona, AMLC Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura, House Committee on Justice Chairperson Rep. Gerville Luistro, Representatives Percival Cendaña, Chel Diokno, and Leila De Lima due to the ‘illegal’ disclosures of their Bank accounts last week.—Mia Layaguin, Eurotv News