Cedric Lee, wife reply to tax charge

Cedric Lee. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Businessman Cedric Lee and his estranged wife on Thursday filed in the Department of Justice their separate replies to the P194-million tax evasion case filed against them by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

The couple described the charge against them as “trumped up.”

Lee, in his three-page counteraffidavit, said it was the chief accountant of his company, Izumo Contractors Inc., who prepared the corporate income tax returns and financial statements from 2006 to 2009.

He said he did not have personal knowledge of the disbursement vouchers, the actual revenues collected per billings and the issuances of official receipts and BIR forms by the authorities of the local government units where Izumo operates—San Juan, Pasay and Butuan cities; Tagudin town, Ilocos Sur province; and Davao del Sur province.

Lee said it was Izumo’s chief accountant, Susan Nace, who prepared the working papers for the financial statements of the company for audit purposes and filed the corporate income tax returns.

“I heavily relied in the trust and confidence reposed on our accountant who had been employed with the corporation for several years,” he said.

Judy Lee, on the other hand, said she had nothing to do with the tax case because it was only in 2012 that Lee assigned a 20-percent share of the company’s stocks to her to make her a member of Izumo’s board of directors.

“The fact of the matter is I actually do not own those shares, as they were just assigned to me by Lee in order to qualify me as a director because the slots for the members of the board of directors could not be filled up and I was one of those chosen by [him] to fill up one director position,” she said in her four-page reply.

Judy said she and Lee had been separated since 2005 and since then, she has had no dealings with him, his businesses or his companies.

“Cedric Lee can very well confirm all the foregoing facts, for it is the truth,” she said.

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