Justice Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II said yesterday that President Duterte has rejected the P13-billion payment on installment basis offered by Mighty Corporation as a compromise for its tax liabilities of P9.5 billion. At the same time, Aguirre said the Department of Justice is set to start its preliminary investigation on the P9.5-billion tax evasion charges filed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue against Mighty Corp. and its owners and officials.
Aguirre said Mighty Corp. has offered to pay P13 billion as compromise payment for its tax liabilities and penalties so that the government would no longer pursue criminal cases against the firm and its executives.
“Mighty Corp. is willing to pay the amount, but requested to settle it in a staggered scheme of P1 billion per payment,” Aguirre said. “But I think the President Duterte doesn’t like it. He wants full payment of the amount because he doesn’t want this to be another Jack Lam (online gaming tycoon),” he stressed.
Thus, Aguirre said, Mighty Corp. would have to pay the amount in full “if they really hoped not to face criminal prosecution, trial before the Court of Tax Appeals and payment of bigger amount of tax deficiency and penalties.” (Rey G. Panaligan)
