3 tax scam suspects charged

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) filed charges against three more suspects with the Anti-Money Laundering Council of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas for their alleged involvement in the P431-million LandBank tax diversion scam.

NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco said those charged for violation of the Anti-Money Laundering Law were Rodrigo Bautista, employed as a messenger by the Contractual Concepts for Pilipinas Makro Inc.; Loreto Castillo, alias Roberto Lucero, owner of one of the dummy LandBank accounts where the tax payments were diverted; and Jeffrey Torres, the one who allegedly represented Castillo in transactions made with the bank’s Binangonan branch.

Investigation conducted by the NBI’s Anti-Fraud and Computer Crimes Division, showed that Bautista and Torres allegedly conspired to divert the tax payments of Makro to the "Roberto Lucero" account at the LandBank branch.

According to the NBI, at least P53 million, representing Makro’s tax payments, were diverted to the dummy bank account.

It would be recalled that the tax diversion scam was discovered last July following the arrest of Artemio San Juan Jr., manager of the LandBank Binangonan branch.

San Juan could not explain how transactions involving the amount took place under his watch. Under the law, he is required to report transactions over P4 million to the AMLC.

Further investigation led the NBI to file charges against San Juan’s deputy Acsa Ramirez, and several officials of Lorenzo Shipping, one of at least nine large firms victimized by the scam. Investigation conducted by the NBI showed that at least P431 million in tax payments from large taxpayers have been diverted to four fictitious bank accounts at the Binangonan branch.

Aside from the Roberto Lucero account, the NBI’s Anti-Fraud and Computer Crimes Division had also previously identified a certain Felix Magpantay Villegas as the real holder of the "Joven Aquino" account. Apart from the Lucero and Aquino accounts, large sums of tax payments were also diverted to the "Alma Clemente" and "Jose Francisco" accounts in the LandBank branch.

Others previously charged by the NBI for their alleged participation in the tax diversion scam were LBP Binangonan branch employees Artemio San Juan, Acsa Ramirez and Ramon Joven. Also charged were Ronilo Yu, Teodorico DJ Rivera, and Resty Rivera.

Wycoco also said the NBI is now closing in on one Nelson Malaluan, the alleged BIR contact of the suspects in the tax diversion.