THE Justice Department has approved the indictment of Janet Lim Napoles and her husband Jaime for tax evasion before the Court of Tax Appeals for allegedly failing to pay P61.18 million in taxes.
The case against Napoles, the alleged mastermind in the pork barrel scam, was based on a complaint filed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue in 2013.
During the preliminary investigation, the Napoles couple denied that they owed the government taxes for 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, but a Justice Department panel led by Assistant State Prosecutor Allan Mariano found no basis in their defense and instead upheld the findings of the BIR.
The bureau had accused the Napoles couple of a willful attempt to evade taxes.
The BIR also found that Mrs. Napoles deliberately failed to supply correct and accurate information in her income tax return for those years.
Taxable years 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2009 and with willful failure to file her ITRs for taxable years 2010, 2011 and 2012.
Jaime Napoles was also charged for not supplying the correct and accurate information in his ITR for 2009 and for his failure to file returns for 2004, 2006, 2008, and from 2010 until 2012.
“Information gathered during investigation disclosed that spouses Napoles during the years 2004 to 2012 were able to purchase and register in their names various real properties, a number of motor vehicles, several insurance policies and club shares. They also invested millions of pesos in various new corporations,” the BIR complaint said.
Acquisitions by the couple included condominium units in Cityland Mega Plaza and the Discovery Center, and parcels of land in Pangasinan and Kidapawan City.
The Napoleses also have insurance policies with Insular Life Assurance Co., Ltd., Philippine American Life & General Insurance Co., Inc., and Philippine Axa Life Insurance Corp., and have purchased vehicles that include a Ford Lincoln Navigator, Honda Civic and Porsche Cayenne.
The BIR records also showed Janet Napoles’ total acquisitions came to P4.17 million in 2004, P22.29 million in 2006, P4.35 million in 2008, P9.84 million in 2009, P6.33 million in 2010, P5.64 million in 2011 and P6.89 million in 2012.
However, these were made with an income of only P195,800 in 2004, zero in 2006, P100,744 in 2008 and zero in 2009, as shown in her ITRs.
Mrs. Napoles did not file any returns from 2010 to 2012.
On the other hand, her husband had total acquisitions worth P1.42 million in 2004, P5.51 million in 2006, P0.78 million in 2008, P9.25 million in 2009, P2.1 million in 2010, P1.17 million in 2011 and P3.65 million in 2012.
The BIR also found that he did not file any ITR for those years except in 2009, during which he declared nothing.
The BIR complaint was filed in 2013, but the Justice Department was only able to issue the resolution Monday due to the demise late last year of Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Edna Valenzuela, who conducted the preliminary investigation on the case.
Earlier this month, the department filed a separate tax evasion case before the Court of Tax Appeals against the couple’s daughter, Jeane, over alleged non-payment of taxes amounting to P17.88 million.