By Jeffrey Damicog
A cosmetics company faces a criminal complaint before the Department of Justice (DoJ) after its delivery truck was found containing fake cigarettes with fake tax stamps worth almost P16 million.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) filed the complaint yesterday against Merrysun Corporation and its executives, namely chief executive Jasmine Tan, treasurer Arlene Yu Benitez, and shareholders Sam Ramos Villa, Binbin Chen, Jing Xuan Xu, and Sharly Cai Tan.
Also named respondents are delivery truck owner Shanshan Xu, its driver Albert Lopez and helpers Arjay Lopez and Reynaldo Samedra.
The respondents have been accused of violating the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, particularly unlawful possession or removal of articles subject to excise tax and willful failure to pay taxes.
The bureau said that Merrysun is a corporation based in Binondo, Manila, and engaged in buying, selling, distributing, marketing, and wholesaling cosmetic products.
The violation was discovered after its delivery truck was impounded for a traffic violation.
Policemen who impounded the truck found inside boxes containing suspected fake cigarettes.
The BIR conducted inspections of the products and discovered that these have been stamped with fake tax stamps.
The BIR seized from the truck 32,550 packs of cigarettes inside 65 master boxes and estimated the deficiency excise tax liability of P15,868,125.
“Clearly, Merrysun Corporation violated the Tax Code by having in its possession 65 boxes of cigarette products found to be fake and containing fake stamps,” the BIR said.
