Napoles kids charged with tax evasion

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on Thursday filed in the Department of Justice a P100-million tax evasion suit against a real estate firm headed by two children of businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, the suspected mastermind of the P10-billion Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam.

JCLN Global Properties Development Corp., together with its president James Christopher Napoles and treasurer Jo Christine Napoles, was sued for willful attempt to evade or defeat tax, and deliberate failure to supply correct and accurate income tax returns from 2008 to 2011, in violation of Sections 254 and 255, in relation to Sections 253 and 256, of the 1997 National Internal Revenue Code.

JCLN, which holds offices at the G6 Dakota Residences on General Malvar corner M. Adriatico Street in Malate, Manila, is engaged in the business of developing, buying, selling and leasing real estate properties.

In a press briefing, BIR Assistant Commissioner James Roldan, head of the agency’s enforcement and advocacy service, said the case against JCLN and the Napoles siblings was prompted by reports on the investigation conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation into the alleged diversion of lawmakers’ PDAF to bogus nongovernment organizations set up by Mrs. Napoles.