Problems seems to be
piling up against Rappler CEO Maria Ressa.
Ressa just lost her
motion to dismiss a P70.2-million tax evasion case at the Court of Tax Appeals
(CTA) for supposedly declaring incorrect tax returns, days before the National
Bureau of Investigation (NBI) arrested her in a separate criminal case filed by
a private complainant.
Rappler's Maria Ressa (photo credit to owner) |
The CTA First
Division denied Maria Ressa’s urgent motion to quash information and suspend
the proceedings against her.
Ressa argues her
case that the tax court has no jurisdiction over her and Rappler Holdings
because of a pending motion for reconsideration on indictments filed by the
Department of Justice.
An administrative
case is also pending against her before the Pasig City Regional Trial Court,
which the veteran journalist cited as separate grounds for the CTA not to hear
her case, she added.
She also adds
that she did not violated Sections
254 and 255 of the National Internal Revenue Code by supposedly failing to
report total quarterly sales receipts from the issuance and sale of Philippine
Depositary Receipts (PDRs) in the second quarter of 2015.
The tax court
countered Ressa’s argument in her pending motion for reconsideration as moot
since it was already denied on Nov. 29, 2018.
CTA denies Ressa’s
motion and finds the charges against her sufficient to stand trial, CTA further
states her pending administrative case at the Pasig RTC bears no weight in her
tax case.
“As to the pendency
of the administrative case against the accused instituted by the BIR, this
should not be a bar to the institution of the criminal proceedings before this
court as it is well-settled that an assessment is not necessary before a
criminal charge for tax evasion may be instituted,” it said
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