Another tax scam at Landbank

Another tax payment diversion scam has been uncovered by the Land Bank of the Philippines, amounting to P17 million, involving its branch in Cabuyao, Laguna.

LandBank officials said that initial investigation showed that the modus operandi used was similar to that uncovered earlier by the bank in its Binangonan, Rizal branch where tax money paid by several corporations was diverted into dummy accounts resulting in the loss of some P432 million in government revenues.

In this case, however, the amount is only for a single transaction but LandBank refused to name the account as investigations are still underway.

"The transaction was actually undertaken in 2000 and it was recently uncovered in the course of our ongoing internal auditing of all tax transactions," the LandBank said.

LandBank is currently conducting an internal audit of its branches nationwide and so far, it has already covered 279 of its total 340 branches.

Under our laws, taxpayers are allowed to make tax payments through accredited banks such as the LandBank. The bank then issues a certificate and an official receipt to the taxpayer as proof of the transaction. The bank in turn surrenders the same to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

In the Binangonan case, the accused issued fake tax certificates and official receipts, which resulted in the discrepancy in BIR records.

LandBank president and chief executive officer Gary Teves said that administrative charges were already filed against those involved in the scam including Rolando Yu, Teodorico Rivera, Resty Rivera, and Joven Aquino, which he says, is separate from the criminal charges slapped on them by the National Bureau of Investigation.

However, the bank has not filed any charges against the branch cashier, Acsa Ramirez, although officials said that they were still talking with her "regarding certain disbursements."

But they added that they had nothing against her regarding violations of the anti-money laundering law.