Hold order sought for 80 in TCC scam

An inter-agency task force looking into the multibillion-peso tax credit scam has asked the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to place on its "hold list" the names of some 80 top executives of private corporations charged with economic sabotage before the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office of the Ombudsman.

Alberto Salanga, executive director of the One-Stop Shop Tax Credit and Duty Credit Certificate (OSSTCDC), said the respondents should be prevented from leaving the country to ensure that they face trial.

The task force is also expected to come up with a list of former government officials implicated in the alleged large-scale issuance of fake and spurious tax credit certificates (TCCs) to certain garment and textile manufacturers.

Immigration Commissioner Rufus Rodriguez issued last Monday a hold- departure order against former Finance Undersecretary Antonio Belicena, former OSSTCDC executive director Uldarico Undutan and former OSSTCDC deputy executive director Raul de Vera.

The three men have been charged with economic sabotage, a non-bailable crime, before the Ombudsman.

The Presidential Task Force 156 headed by Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora has reportedly uncovered about P5 billion worth of fraudulent tax credit certificates and duty drawback certificates issued to several private companies from May 1992 to June 1998.

During the period, the OSSTCDC issued a total of 18,748 TCCs involving 1,527 individual claimants with an aggregate amount of P52.1 billion.

The investment incentive group, composed of private entities under the Board of Investment (BOI), was responsible for the issuance of 12,279 TCCs worth P20 billion to 957 firms.

Alarmed by the extent of the scam, President Estrada ordered the prosecution of all those involved, saying he wanted them jailed for wreaking havoc on the economy.

The tax credit certificates were issued to favored garment and textile firms that used fake supporting documents as basis for their claims. The documents were later sold to other private corporations, which used them to pay taxes for imported raw materials.

TCCs allow export firms involved in supply agreements to avail of certain tax refunds. Some fo the TCCs, however, were found to have been acquired using fraudulent documents.

The TCCs were either used by the claimants themselves or sold to other BOI-registered companies.