Supreme Court affirms plunder indictment of accused in tax credit scam

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) has upheld the indictment for plunder of an accused in one of the many multimillion-peso tax credit scam cases involving former Finance executives and several businessmen. 

In a resolution released yesterday, the first division of the High Court also affirmed last year’s orders of the Sandiganbayan for the arrest of Grace Chingkoe in connection with the P73.76-million tax credit granted to Filstar Textile Industrial Corp. 

The SC denied for lack of merit the petition of Chingkoe seeking to nullify and stop implementation of the anti-graft court’s resolutions issued on April 3 and Aug. 3 last year. 

“The Court resolves to dismiss the petition and supplement to the petition for certiorari (review) and prohibition for failure of petitioner (Chingkoe) to sufficiently show that any grave abuse of discretion was committed by the Sandiganbayan in rendering the challenged resolutions which, on the contrary, appear to be in accord with the facts and the applicable law and jurisprudence,” stated the notice of the resolution signed by division clerk of court lawyer Enriqueta Esguerra - Vidal. 

Grace Chingkoe was accused of defrauding the government of P73.76 million representing the value of 28 tax credit certificates (TCCs) granted to Filstar Textile Industrial Corp. from 1995 to 1997 on alleged bogus supporting documents - along with businessman Faustino Chingkoe, the alleged brains behind the tax credit scam, and former top officials of Department of Finance led by former Undersecretary Antonio Belicena. 

She and the other accused were ordered arrested by the Sandiganbayan last year. Grace served as corporate secretary of Filstar, a manufacturer and importer-exporter of yarns, threads, laces and other fabrics incorporated in 1989 and owned by Faustino and wife Gloria Chan. 

The Office of the Ombudsman alleged that the Chingkoes conspired with government officials led by Belicena, executive director of the One-Stop-Shop Inter-Agency Tax Credit and Duty Drawback Center, in causing the issuance of the TCCs in favor of Filstar even if it is not qualified to receive tax credit incentives under the Omnibus Investment Code of 1987. 

The TCCs were supposed to be used by Filstar to pay its tax and duties obligations but were instead transferred to oil companies Petron Corp. and Pilipinas Shell as payment for fuel excise tax. 

Others accused in the plunder case include deputy director of tax credit center Uldarico Andutan Jr., reviewer Asuncion Magdaet, tax specialist Rowena Malonzo and private defendant Filstar representative Catalina Aranas Bautista. 

Records show that the anti-graft court’s first division issued a warrant of arrest in April last year against the suspects in the tax credit scam. 

However, the Chingkoes were reportedly able to secure a travel permit from the fourth division of the Sandiganabayan days before plunder charges were filed and arrest warrants issued against them.