Tax Court clears accountant after DOJ sat on his case for six years

For the unjustified delay in acting on a tax evasion complaint, the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) has dismissed the case filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) against a certified public accountant.

In an eight-page resolution promulgated last May 24, 2018, the CTA Second Division said Emelino Maestro’s right to a speedy disposition of his case has been violated when the DOJ sat on his case for several years.

Maestro was first slapped with a complaint in October 2011 for his alleged failure to pay close to P7 million in income and value-added taxes.

On Feb. 3, 2012, he answered the complaint filed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). A year later or on Feb. 20, 2013, he filed a motion for a speedy resolution of the case against him.

However, the DOJ only issued a resolution finding probable cause to charge him before the CTA on July 24, 2017 or after more than six years since he was slapped with a complaint.

Then, the DOJ resolution was submitted to the Tax Court only on Feb. 5, 2018.

The Tax Court said the length of delay counting from the time the complaint was filed in 2011 to the resolution in 2017 “amounts to a violation of the accused’s constitutional right to a speedy disposition of his case.”

Maestro’s case

In the 2017 resolution, Assistant State Prosecutor Mark Roland S. Estepa explained that the case was previously assigned to Prosecution Attorney Monica T. Liwag.

However, due to the reconstitution of the Task Force of BIR in 2013, the case was re-assigned to him.

“Even if we start counting from October 10, 22013, the [reconstitution of the Task Force], the fact still remains that it still took Assistant Prosecutor Estepa more than three years to resolve the preliminary investigation proceedings and six months to actually file the Information (charge sheet) before the CTA on Feb. 5, 2018 without any explanation whatsoever” the Tax Court said through Associate Justice Juanito C. Castañeda Jr.

“Thus, we find the delay in the termination of preliminary investigation brought about by the issuance of the said Department Order unjustified,” the Tax Court added.

The CTA recognized Maestro’s prudence in promptly responding to the complaint filed against him by the BIR.

The Tax Court pointed out that the investigation as well as the delay “certainly caused distress, anxiety, and embarrassment on the part of the accused considering his reputation as a professional Certified Public Accountant.”

“This looming unrest, as well as the tactical disadvantages carried by the passage of time, should be weighed against the State and in favor of the individual…In view of the violation of the accused’s right to speedy disposition of his case, the Court has no recourse but to dismiss the instant case,” the Tax Court said.

Final and executory

Last July 2, 2018, the May 24, 2018 resolution became final and executory after the government prosecutors failed to file an appeal.

The resolution was concurred in by Associate Justices Caesar A. Casanova and Catherine T. Manahan.   /vvp

RELATED STORY: BIR now going after accountants