DOF: No settlement with Mighty

MANILA, Philippines - Embattled Mighty Corp. will not be able to easily get away with a compromise settlement after the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) found more cigarettes with fake tax stamps in its warehouses in Bulacan last week.

In a statement, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said the recent raid of the BOC and BIR in warehouses located in San Ildefonso, Bulacan, further strengthens the government’s legal action against the cigarette company.

“The latest inspections done in Bulacan, for instance, would help the government build a strong case against Mighty. Any settlement is now out of the question until the courts say so,” Dominguez said.

A joint operation of the two tax collecting bureaus in Bulacan last week yielded about P3.2 billion worth of Mighty cigarettes bearing fake tax stamps. The seized cigarette packs were assessed to cost the government P2.4 billion in unpaid taxes.

Once again, Dominguez lauded the combined efforts of the BOC and the BIR against tax fraud in the country.

“We commend the Bureau of Customs, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, as well as other agencies such as the Philippine National Police for remaining relentless in their joint campaign against tax fraud,” Dominguez said.

“The close cooperation we are now seeing between the BIR and the BOC against  those who continue to undermine our reform agenda is the kind of teamwork we need in government. Their sustained operations against illegal activities demonstrate the Duterte administration’s firm resolve to expose tax cheats and bring action against them in court,” he said.

Dominguez also welcomed the ruling of the Manila Regional Trial Court rejecting the writ of preliminary injunction filed by Mighty Corp. against the raids conducted by the BOC.

He said this development would now pave the way for government authorities to continue inspecting warehouses storing cigarettes manufactured by the firm.

Last week, the BIR filed a P9.564 billion tax evasion case against Mighty Corp. for the alleged use of fake tax stamps, which is in violation of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997.