Garcia, wife face tax evasion charges

MANILA, Philippines - Former military comptroller Carlos Garcia and his wife face tax evasion charges, a few days after he was granted bail following a plea bargaining agreement with the government.

The Department of Justice has found probable cause to charge the Garcias with tax evasion before the Sandiganbayan.

In a resolution dated Dec. 23, 2010, Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Miguel Gudio Jr.

reversed the recommendation of State Prosecutor Edmundo Magpantay, who conducted the preliminary investigation on the Garcias, to dismiss the complaint of the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

The BIR said the Garcias derived income from salaries, wages and allowances, and director’s fee from the Armed Forces and Police Savings and Loan Association, Inc. based on their income tax return in 2002 and statement of assets, liabilities and net worth in 2003.

“However, records obtained from the Sandiganbayan, Office of the Ombudsman and the Securities and Exchange Commission disclosed that he and his spouse, respondent Clarita D. Garcia, had various financial transactions for the same periods,” read the resolution.

“In addition, a comparative review of his 2001 and 2002 SALNs shows an increase in his assets in the amount of P320,000 which brings his total cash transactions to P4.37 million for the year 2002.”

Based on these, the resolution said the BIR believed that the Garcias attempted to hide their actual or true income by failing to report or include the above-mentioned transactions in their 2002 ITR despite the National Internal Revenue Code’s requirement that married individuals file their ITRs even if one of them has no visible source of income.

The DOJ said for taxable year 2003, Garcia declared his income at only P1,133,809, but the BIR found that he grossly under-declared his and his wife’s income.

In their counter-affidavits filed during the preliminary investigation, the Garcias questioned the “propriety of the complaint on the ground that the same failed to contain the mandatory verification and certification on non-forum shopping.”

Pamaran: Plea bargaining valid

The plea bargain agreement between the government and former military comptroller Garcia is valid, according to former Sandiganbayan presiding justice Manuel Pamaran.

In an interview with The STAR, Pamaran said the Supreme Court (SC) upheld in two separate decisions the validity of a plea bargain agreement even if it was forged as the prosecution was about to rest its case.

Pamaran, the anti-graft court’s first presiding justice, said the SC has ruled that an accused may be allowed to change his plea even after the government has rested its case, as long as the prosecution does not have sufficient evidence to establish the guilt of the accused.

“The prosecution is correct because it is their own discretion to determine whether the guilt of the accused can be proved or not,” he said.

“It is not enough that you have rested the case because the court has not yet decided. How do you know that in the process, the evidence of the prosecution may be jeopardized by the evidence of the defense?”

Pamaran said the letter of Garcia’s wife Clarita to US immigration authorities that her husband received millions in commissions or gifts from suppliers of the Armed Forces is not enough to secure a conviction.

“Somebody must testify in court,” he said.

Pamaran said private documents are not admissible in court.

“Even if it was given to US immigration, there must be testimony to that effect, like an officer there who will testify that it was given to him, then it becomes a public document,” he said.

Based on Clarita’s statement, the Office of the Ombudsman filed plunder charges against Garcia and his family before the Sandiganbayan.

In a separate interview, Marcelo said the prosecution still has enough evidence to convict Garcia of plunder.

“The bank accounts alone amount to more than P50 million,” he told The STAR.

Marcelo said Clarita’s statement to US immigration authorities is an admission against interest and against a co-conspirator. – Edu Punay, Michael Punongbayan