The United Nationalist Alliance’s presidential bet Vice President Jejomar Binay on Monday said that Bureau of Internal Revenue chief Kim Henares will be gone 30 minutes after he took his oath as president.
Binay said he was prompted to plan to move fast on Henares’ tenure because she was even faster in taking action on vice presidential bet Senator Antonio Trillanes IV’s request for a probe of University of Makati, involving some government officials and shareholders of publicly listed STI Holdings, Inc.
Binay said the school officials were remotely connected to him yet Trillanes and Henares started to harass them.
The BIR over the weekend said it will investigate possible tax liabilities arising from allegedly questionable deals at the UMak.
“The BIR chief has acted swiftly on a written request from a critic of Vice President Binay, which is all part of their conspiracy to harass businesses and private individuals even remotely connected to the VP,” said UNA campaign spokesman Rico Quicho.
In response to a letter by Trillanes, Henares said the tax agency will not discount the allegations raised against Binay, his son former Makati Mayor Jejomar “Junjun” Binay and key shareholders of STI Holdings who allegedly siphoned public funds from the school.
“In the business community, harassment is a term that is associated with the BIR. No wonder the business community has warmly applauded VP Binay’s statement that the BIR chief will be gone 30 minutes after he takes oath as President,” Quicho said.
Apart from Binay and son, Trillanes wanted the BIR to check possible violations of tax laws by UMak president Tomas Lopez, and STI executives led by its chairman Eusebio Tanco, STI president Monico Jacob, Annabelle Borromeo and Jack Arroyo Jr.
“We received a copy of the result of the Senate investigation from Sen. Trillanes and we are looking into it,” the BIR chief said. “This is not about personalities, our obligation is to make sure everybody abides by the rules.”
Aside from BIR, Trillanes asked the Anti-Money Laundering Council, Securities and Exchange Commission and Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) to probe the paper and money trail and possible liabilities of those involved in diverting more than half-a-billion pesos from UMak.
Trillanes said the Binays and the STI group allegedly connived with one another in diverting P547 million from UMak to Philippine Healthcare Educators, Inc., a private joint venture partner of the Makati City government operating the nursing school at UMak.
During the Senate blue ribbon sub-committee hearings on the Makati corruption scandal, Trillanes said they have uncovered “indubitable facts and records” showing how Binay and the STI group misappropriated funds intended for UMak.
Considering the sizeable government funds involved, Trillanes said the PSE and SEC should look into the propriety of allowing the individuals involved to continue serving as officers and directors of private and publicly-listed companies.
“They are facing serious charges involving plunder, malversation of public funds, graft and corruption, among others,” Trillanes said.
The Binay camp said Trillanes and the administration Liberal Party-led committee for over a year subjected the vice president and his family to “trial by publicity” but had failed to present evidence against them.
Binay filed libel charges against Trillanes, who invoked immunity from suit as a senator.
Trillanes posted bail after the court issued a warrant of arrest against the senator.