The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has filed multiple criminal complaints against controversial government contractors Sarah Discaya and Curlee Discaya for alleged unpaid taxes totaling P7.18 billion.
The cases involve unpaid income, excise and documentary stamp taxes tied to the couple and their companies, including St. Gerrard Construction General Contractor and Development Corp.
Aside from the couple, another corporate officer of St. Gerrard Construction was also slapped in the tax evasion complaints, covering the years 2018 to 2021.
‘We have assessed a total tax liability of P7,182,172,532.25,’ BIR Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. said in a statement Wednesday, October 8.
Besides income and excise taxes, the Discayas have also failed to remit taxes for transfers of shares in four of their construction companies, the tax chief said.
‘This is composed of several investigations on the unpaid individual income taxes of Curlee and Sarah Discaya, the unpaid excise taxes on their nine luxury vehicles, and the unpaid documentary stamp taxes on their supposed divestment from four of their construction firms,” Lumagui added.
Divested? Not quite, BIR says
The spouses had publicly claimed at Senate hearings in September that they had given up much of their ownership in companies allegedly involved in substandard and ghost flood control projects with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) since 2016.
The BIR, however, said that the Discayas remain the beneficial owners of four firms-St. Gerrard, St. Timothy, St. Matthew, and Alpha and Omega-which have big-ticket deals with government.
‘The Spouses Discaya never divested from St. Gerrard, St. Timothy, St. Matthew, and Alpha and Omega. The BIR has no record of any return or payment for such divestment,’ Lumagui said. “They never divested because they never paid the corresponding taxes necessary for such divestment.”
Not just P7.28 billion
The latest BIR filings represent “only the tip of the iceberg,” Lumagui said. He noted that the bureau’s audit of Discaya-owned construction firms could lead to more tax evasion cases.
‘Once we have finished our audit of the Discaya-owned construction firms, we expect findings of billions of tax deficiencies. Expect more cases to be filed,’ he said.
In a separate interview with reporters, Lumagui said that the agency’s auditing started last year before the flood control fund scandal broke out.
“Actually itong kaso na sinampa natin nagsimula tayo ng audit nito last year pa. Hinintay lang natin yung response ng iba’t ibang ahensya ng gobyerno para masigurado natin na makuha natin lahat ng impormasyon na kailangan para mabuo itong assessment na ginawa natin ngayon,’ Lumagui said. (“Actually, this case that we filed started with an audit last year. We just waited the response of different government agencies to make sure we get all the information needed to complete the assessment we made.”)
Other construction firms of the Discaya couple are also undergoing audit to determine its tax liabilities.
‘Ang nandito palang ay yung individual liabilities nila at St. Gerrard ang sinampa natin,’ he said. (“All that’s here are their individual liabilities at St. Gerrard, the basis for the case filed today.”)