Pork scam accused Janet, hubby face P60-M tax case

HAPPIER TIMES The Department of Justice has found probable cause to indict businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles and her husband Jimmy for evading the payment of taxes amounting to P60million. INQUIRERPHOTO

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has recommended the filing of a P60-million tax evasion case against alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles and her husband Jaime for allegedly failing to pay their taxes from 2004 to 2012.

In an 18-page resolution dated March 13 but released only yesterday, Prosecutors Stewart Allan Mariano, Mark Roland Estepa and Susan Dacanay found probable cause to file charges of violations of Section 254 and 255 of the National Internal Revenue Code against the couple.

The prosecutors backed the allegation of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) that Napoles owed P44,711,147.48 in income taxes in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 while Jaime owed P16,470,402.72 for the same years.

The couple were additionally charged with failing to file their income tax returns (ITRs)—Napoles for 2010, 2011 and 2012 and Jaime for 2009.

Napoles is under detention in connection with the alleged P10-billion diversion of congressional Priority Development Assistance Fund, or pork barrel, to ghost projects and fake foundations. Jaime Napoles is a retired Marine major.

In its complaint, the BIR said the spouses were able to purchase real properties, vehicles, insurance policies and club shares, as well as invested tens of millions of pesos in various corporations.

The BIR said the couple could not have “conceivably acquired” their properties and investments, given the income they stated in their ITRs. The couple’s net taxable income from the ITRs they filed from 1999 to 2009 did not exceed P800,000 annually, it said.