BIR says cigarette maker delaying tax stamp probe

Neil Estrella (left) CIIS director of the Bureau of Customs watches as a BIR employee uses a taggant reader to the alledge smuggled Mighty cigarettes pack to confirm that the stamps were fake after it was sized in two. 20 footer container vans at pier 4. (JUNJIE MENDOZA)

Mighty Corp.’s claim that malfunctioning devices were used to determine whether a tax stamp on cigarettes was fake is a strategy to delay the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) probe, Internal Revenue Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay said on Wednesday.

The BIR said the Bulacan-based cigarette maker adopted this strategy even as it earlier promised to cooperate with the government investigation.

Mighty lawyer Sigfrid Fortun said on Tuesday that malfunctioning BIR excise stamp validating devices produced different results when used on Mighty products seized from the company’s warehouses in Pampanga province.

Dulay noted that Mighty employed delaying tactics when the BIR tried to inspect the company’s warehouses in Pampanga on Tuesday.

“When we had our first validation in Pampanga, we got a different manifestation of ‘cooperation’ from Mighty. We were supposed to inspect six warehouses and the BIR team was ready to do validation of fake stamps.

“Unfortunately, they were met by a battery of lawyers from Mighty—they were met by nine lawyers. Expecting the cooperation pledged by Mighty, the team instead was questioned. Their authority was questioned. Their use of the taggant reader was questioned. They were supposed to start at 8 o’clock; it was about 11 o’clock when they were able to start their validation,” Dulay said.

As a result, the BIR team got to inspect only half the contents of just one warehouse, said the BIR chief.

“This is a strategy of Mighty, which we feel is understandable,” Dulay said. —BEN O. DE VERA