MANILA, Philippines – The Sandiganbayan has convicted Uldarico Andutan Jr., former deputy executive director of the Department of Finance (DOF)’s now-defunct One-Stop Shop Inter-Agency Tax Credit and Duty Drawback Center (OSS Center), of five counts of graft in connection with the alleged fraudulent issuance of tax credit certificates (TCCs) to textile companies from 1995 to 1996.
Andutan was meted 6 to 10 years of imprisonment for each count, or a total of 30 to 50 years. He is also barred from holding public office.
However, he was acquitted on five separate charges of estafa for falsifying public documents. Prosecutors identified the company involved in the five graft and five estafa charges as Filstar Textile Industrial Incorported.
Andutan has previously been convicted of tax credit fraud related to transactions with other companies.
The cases stemmed from the findings of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s Special Presidential Task Force 156, which investigated the approval and release of P228.36 million worth of TCCs to companies owned by Faustino and Gloria Chingkoe, a couple accused of conniving in a multi-billion-peso tax credit scam.
In its 32-page decision, the Sandiganbayan’s Seventh Division said that Andutan should have acted with more prudence and care when he handled the applications for TCCs.
Andutan had the last approval before an applicant firm was considered eligible for a TCC grant. The anti-graft court said he should have denied Filstar’s application.
“Evidently, accused Andutan Jr.’s palpable recommendation and approval opened the proliferation of the tax scam. Andutan Jr. failed to safeguard the mandate and the very purpose of the tax simplified system for the availment of tax credits and duty drawbacks, a failure that has serious consequences for the government,” the decision, penned by Associate Justice Georgina Hidalgo, read.
The Sandiganbayan also cleared three other OSS Center officials, reviewer Asuncion Magdaet and evaluators Charmelle Recoter and Merose Tordesillas, of any criminal liability. The court said their participation had no influence on the approval or denial of TCC applications.
“The tasks of Magdaet, Recorter, and Tordesillas were merely centered on the determination of the completeness but not the authenticity of all the documents submitted for the tax credit claim, based on the checklist of documentary requirements provided,” the court said.
The cases against two other ex-DOF defendants, OSS Center executive director Antonio Benicena and Emelita Tizon, were dismissed since they died while trial was ongoing.
However, cases against private defendants, the Chingkoes, and OSS Center officers tax specialist Rowena Malonzo and evaluators Anabelle Dino and Gregoria Cuento-Evangelio were ordered archived, as they remain at large. – Rappler.com