DOJ sets Corona tax evasion case hearing

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Wednesday announced that it will start hearing the tax evasion complaints against former Chief Justice Renato Corona, his daughter and son-in-law on September 25.

The prosecutors tasked by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to hear the complaints said that the panel will start issuing subpoenas for the respondents, including Corona's daughter Maria Carla Beatriz Castillo and her husband, Constantino Castillo III, on Wednesday.

The panel is headed by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Roseanne Balauag with members Prosecution Attorneys Roland Estepa and Javee Laurence Bandong.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) filed the P150.68 million tax evasion complaints against Corona and the Castillo couple last August 30.

BIR Commissioner Kim Henares said that Corona alone has an income tax liability of P102.5 million while his daughter has a tax liability of P9.93 million.

Castillo, meanwhile, has a tax liability of P20.25 million.

The BIR said that Corona also did not declare his assets in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth from 2002 to 2010.

In the complaint filed with the Department of Justice, the BIR said Corona did not declare two real properties he acquired in 2004 and 2005. These are a condominium unit at The Columns along Ayala Avenue that he bought for P3.6 million and a Bonifacio Global City property that he bought for P9.16 million.

BIR investigation showed that Corona also did not declare his dollar accounts in his SALN, which according to Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales amounted to $10 million to $12 million.

Corona claimed he had only $2.4 million in dollar accounts and P80 million in peso deposits.

The ousted chief justice had said that he will face the complaints even as he feels that it is part of the administration's efforts to persecute him.