MikeLigalig.com

Warehouses of fake cigarettes leased to Mighty Corporation

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, March 2 (PNA)-- The five warehouses located at the San Simon Industrial Park in San Simon, Pampanga, from where some PHP2 billion worth of fake cigarettes were seized, were found to be leased to tobacco company Mighty Corporation.

Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) regional director Jethro Sabariaga said Mighty Corporation lawyers and representatives met with the BIR during the detention of the said items Wednesday night.

"Apparently, they are claiming ownership of the items,” Sabariaga said, adding that the Mighty Corporation lawyers and representatives made no denial of the authenticity of the items. 

The BIR regional office will be detaining the items for seven days before turning them over to the Large Taxpayer Service and the Commissioner of the BIR.

The BIR regional office seized 41 master cases of cigarettes for further testing and reporting, and then turn over to the BIR national office.

Majority of the items are still inside the warehouses.

Sabariaga said if it was found that all the cigarette packs are affixed with fake stamps and excise tax have not been paid, there will be criminal liability on the part of the owner.

BIR had made an estimate of master cases of cigarettes at 90,000 which means that there are some 45 million boxes of cigarettes in the warehouses. 

This places the possible excise tax responsibility for the merchandise at PHP1.2 billion.

Customs operatives conducted random sampling of the said products and inspected with a scanner to check the cigarette tax stamps affixed to packs.

As far as the BIR is concerned, 41 of the master cases checked did not register as authentic.   

Sabariaga said he is saddened that there are still companies that resort to faking BIR tax stamps.

Customs team leader Cleo Dongga-as, through a Letter of Authority signed by Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon raided Wednesday the warehouses located at Block 3 Lot 19, Block 9 Lot 6 and Block 8 Lot15 in San Simon town where items bearing "Marvel" and "Mighty" with fake tax stamps were found affixed to the boxes of cigarettes.

One warehouse is said to have 20,000 master cases which would have 50 reams of cigarettes each.(PNA)

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=85847.0