Ex-BIR chief gets 15 years in jail for graft

The Sandiganbayan sentenced yesterday former Internal Revenue Commissioner Bienvenido Tan Jr. to a maximum 15 years in pri-son for an "illegal" compromise deal involving some P302.9 million in tax liabilities of food and beverage giant San Miguel Corp. (SMC).

In a decision penned by Sandiganbayan Justice Ro-dolfo Palattao, the Sandiganbayan’s fourth division found Tan guilty of violating Republic Act 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, when he entered into the compromise agreement.

Court records show that during his tenure as chief of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Tan entered into a compromise agreement with SMC on Dec. 22, 1988, reducing SMC’s tax liabilities from P302,951,040 to P10 million.

Palattao said that because of the illegal compromise agreement entered into by Tan and SMC executives Nazario Avendano and Jaime de la Cruz, the government lost some P292.2 million.

"(The) court concedes that the procedure of reviewing and examining a multimillion tax case observed by (Tan) speaks of unusual efficiency for which he should, under normal circumstances, be commended," Palattao said in his 24-page ruling.

"Nonetheless, we cannot ignore the fact that the same had been resorted to in order to give unwarranted advantage, preference and benefit to a taxpayer. It was not done to benefit the government," the ruling read.

"On the contrary, the compromise of the tax case resulted in undue injury to the government and must therefore be condemned indubitably; there was a lawless exercise of discretion to pre-judice the government," Palattao added.

The indeterminate prison sentence ranges from a mi-nimum of six years and one month to a maximum of 15 years but it also perpetually disqualifies Tan from holding public office again.

The anti-graft court also ordered the BIR to immediately collect from SMC the total amount of P292,951,048.93 representing the tax debt covering the period from January 1985 to March 31, 1986.

Tan, now 70, was appointed to the BIR by former President Corazon Aquino. The graft charge was filed by the Office of the Ombudsman sometime in 1993.

In a statement, SMC said the food and beverage conglomerate "entered into that agreement with the BIR in good faith" and is studying the possibility of filing a motion for reconsideration.

"The company was being assessed some P302 million which was without factual and legal basis. It was a case of a ‘tax on a tax payment.’ Thus we believe the compromise agreement was appropriate," the statement read.

SMC further pointed out that the company itself as well as Avendano and Dela Cruz, who were respectively senior vice president and assistant vice president at the time, were not defendants in the case.