Gov’t wants wife of tax scam suspect extradited

The prosecution arm of the Office of the Ombudsman has filed a request with the Department of Justice seeking the extradition of the wife of the main suspect in the multibillion-peso tax credit scam, who has allegedly transferred the family’s assets to Canada.

Chief Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa Ignacio, head of the Office of the Special Prosecutor, said the role of Faustino Chingkoe’s wife, Gloria, is very "significant" in light of reports she was in the process of pulling out their business interests from the Philippines.

"She is a very significant connection in the laundering and transferring of all these assets to Canada," he told The STAR, as he added the government seeks to recover revenue lost through the fraud.

He said they intend to use the Philippines’ mutual legal assistance treaty with Canada and move to freeze the family’s assets through the help of the international anti-money laundering council.

The Chingkoes are facing graft charges in connection with the tax scam, in which 11 of their firms were allegedly involved. The government estimated that P3 billion of the total P5.3 billion tax scam involved the Chingkoe companies. — Delon Porcalla