Napoles husband refuses to enter plea for P5.7M tax evasion cases

Retired Marine officer Jaime Napoles, husband of alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles, on Wednesday refused to enter plea for the tax evasion cases filed against him for his alleged failure to pay P5.707-million worth of tax liabilities.

Appearing before the Court of Tax Appeals' (CTA) Third Division, Mr. Napoles said he was advised by his legal counsel not to enter plea for the cases as he still has a pending petition for review before the CTA en banc.

Before the start of the proceedings, Mr. Napoles’ camp moved for the deferment of his arraignment, in view of the pending petition for review which questions the information of the cases filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in May 2015.

The Third Division, however, said that the arraignment proceedings must push through as there was no order by the CTA en banc to do otherwise.

“No TRO (temporary restraining order) has been issued by the en banc to prevent the court from proceeding with the arraignment,” Third Division member Associate Justice Esperanza Fabon-Victorino said.

After each case information was read before him, Mr. Napoles responded: “Upon the advise of my counsel, I refuse to enter plea”.

The Third Division, in turn, entered a “not guilty” plea on his behalf in accordance with the court rules.

Mr. Napoles is facing three counts of violation of Section 254 of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC) over his alleged failure to pay the right amount of taxes for the years 2006, 2009 and 2012.

Napoles is also facing two counts of violation of Section 255 of the NIRC for allegedly under-declaring his tax obligations in his income tax returns (ITRs) for years 2006 and 2012.

Based on the information of the cases, Napoles owes the government a total of P5.707-million worth of unpaid tax obligations.

Following his arraignment, the Third Division set a preliminary conference on June 30 in which the prosecution and the defense are expected to mark the evidence and identify the witnesses that they intend to present during the trial proper.

The pre-trial proceeding was set on July 27.

Napoles’ wife Janet is also facing multiple counts of tax evasion cases before the CTA  over her alleged failure to pay P44.71-million worth of tax liabilities for years 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. Her arraignment was set on June 15.

Their youngest daughter, Jeane Catherine Napoles, is currently undergoing trial before the CTA for a P17.46-million tax evasion case, which stemmed from her alleged failure to file her ITR as well as to pay her income tax for year the 2011, despite her acquisition on that year of a posh condominium unit at Ritz Carlton in Los Angeles, United States, worth $2 million. —KBK, GMA News