Sandiganbayan convicts 3 ex-DOF officials over tax credit fraud

MANILA, Philippines – The anti-graft court Sandiganbayan convicted 3 former Department of Finance (DOF) officials over the fraudulent approval of a P6.065-million tax credit certificate issued to a bus company in 1998.

In a 33-page decision issued last October 4, the Sandiganbayan 3rd Division ruled that Uldarico Andutan Jr, Raul de Vera, and Rosanna Diala, ex-officials of the DOF’s One Stop Shop Inter-Agency Tax Credit and Duty Drawback Center (DOF-Center), caused injury to the government after processing and approving a tax credit certificate worth P6,064,669 to Jam Transit Incorporated on March 11, 1998.

The anti-graft court said the 3 individuals had acted with “manifest partiality” in favor of Jam Transit when they failed to conduct an honest evaluation of the bus company’s application for a tax credit certificate despite “red flags” and “irregularities.”

The 3 former DOF officials were sentenced to 6 years in jail and perpetual disqualification from holding public office. The case against Jam Transit executive Joseph Cabotaje was dismissed after his death in 2009.

The Sandiganbayan’s latest conviction is the second faced by Andutan, De Vera, and Diala in 2019. 

Prior to this, the Sandiganbayan 7th Division convicted the 3 former DOF officials of multiple counts of graft over a similar issue, which involved RA Rodriguez Bus Line. The anomalous tax credit certificate issued to the bus company in 1997 was worth some P17 million.

The former officials’ appeal in this case was denied last June 14. Andutan and De Vera were sentenced to 42 years imprisonment for 7 counts of graft, while Diala was sentenced to 30 years over 5 counts. – Rappler.com