Mighty Corp. owner Alexander Wongchuking met with Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II yesterday afternoon to convey willingness to cooperate in any investigation on the alleged fake excise tax stamps used by their company.
“Because of information which was conveyed to us, the President (Duterte) wanted to find out what happened to the excise tax allegedly faked,” Sigrid Fortun, one of the lawyers of Wongchuking, explained why the businessman met with Aguirre.
“The company had decided to cooperate fully in accordance to what Secretary Aguirre conveyed to him as to the wishes of the President,” said Fortun.
Following the meeting with Aguirre, Wongchuking refused to make any comments before reporters.
When asked about the alleged bribery attempt made by Mighty Corp. to Duterte, Fortun said that it was never discussed during the meeting with Aguirre.
In a statement released to the media later in the day, Mighty Corp. blamed the malfunctioning taggant excise stamp validating devices used by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on the products seized during what it claimed was an unlawful raid on its warehouses in Pampanga. Fortun said the devices used by BIR examiners produced varying results in the same carton.
When the same device was used to test tax stamps on products of Mighty’s competitors, the result suggests that they were also fake.
Fortun said the BIR should also sue and send notices of tax assessment to Mighty’s competitors. (JEFFREY DAMICOG)
