Court of Tax Appeals stops Corona’s arraignment

IMPEACHED Chief Justice Renato Corona has won a reprieve from the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) which stopped his arraignment Wednesday regarding the P120.5 million tax evasion case brought against him by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

Corona skirted the reading of charges against him for the eight time. The tax court had initially set his court appearance in April last year.

In a five-page resolution, the tax court en banc issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) preventing the CTA Second Division from holding the former chief magistrate’s arraignment.

“(T)here is an urgent need to temporarily suspend the proceedings and observe the status quo until the parties’ respective positions on the matter are heard in an oral argument,” the court said in its Oct. 6 order, which it released Wednesday.

The court set the oral discussion on the issue at 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 20 to determine whether the CTA sitting en banc has the authority to resolve the petition for review filed by Corona questioning the ruling of the Second Division to proceed with his trial.

Corona had been slapped by the BIR with six counts each of attempting to evade tax payment and failure to pay taxes.

In May 2012, Corona was unseated by the Senate impeachment court for his failure to declare his real income in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth.

The BIR used the documents which surfaced during the impeachment trial in pursuing the tax evasion case against Corona and his family.