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THE main
witness to the P2.5-billion tax -credit scam involving
the Chingkoe Group of Companies has despaired over the
lack of progress in prosecuting the perpetrators.
In an
interview, Felix Chingkoe said only one of the so-called
high-profile cases filed against his estranged brother
Faustino Chingkoe, who allegedly masterminded the scam,
has been pursued with any real impact, while the other
four remain “under preliminary investigation.”
On top
of this, the younger Chingkoe said, no effort was
exerted by government to forfeit the assets or extradite
the personalities involved, prior pledges by state
prosecutors notwithstanding.
Even the
tax-evasion case filed against Diamond Knitting,
allegedly a key scam beneficiary, is gathering dust in
the courts, Felix said.
This
amid pleas by Ombudsman Maria Mercedes N. Gutierrez to
increase the size of her annual budget and by current
efforts to maximize government revenue flows and trim
the budget deficit to the barest minimum, he said.
“Except
for the case against Diamond Knitting, all four other
cases before the Ombudsman are still in the preliminary
investigation stage,” Felix said.
He told
reporters he met with Gutierrez and Special Prosecutor
Dennis Villa-Ignacio just two weeks earlier in an effort
to move the case forward.
According to the younger Chingkoe, forfeiture of
property and extradition are mandatory “in cases like
this.”
“Government can file for forfeiture or extradition now
but has never done so,” he lamented. Faustino Chingkoe
has become a Canadian citizen since 1997 but is out on
bail as the graft and corruption cases filed against him
grinds on its sixth year.
State
prosecutors have repeatedly opposed his petitions to
travel abroad on the ground that he is a flight
risk—bearing four passports—but the court has granted
his travel petitions each time, giving rise to fear he
may have laundered all his assets by this time.
In fact,
Faustino is abroad right now, having been granted a
one-month travel permission by the Sandiganbayan
division chaired by Justice Gregory Ong.
Canadian
media reports claim Faustino Chingkoe and wife Gloria
own two condominiums and a house in British Columbia,
the latter appraised in 2006 at C$688,000.
Gutierrez had been reported in Canada to have drafted a
request for the extradition of Faustino’s wife, Gloria,
but ran into difficulties in collecting the documents
that would meet the Canadian government’s requirements.
Gutierrez reportedly acknowledged the Canadia
government’s requirements for extradition were not as
fluid as that of the United States, for example. |
