Dominguez writes Jack Ma over fake tax stamps sold on Alibaba

Finance Secretary Carlos “Sonny” Dominguez III on Friday said he wrote to Alibaba founder and executive chairman Jack Ma to take down fake tax stamps being sold on the website.

“If you go to Alibaba.com, you can see there an item to buy fake Philippine cigarette stamps. In fact, I just wrote a letter to Jack Ma to ask him to remove it from his website because that hurting the Philippine interests,” Dominguez told reporters at the sidelines of a tax reform forum in Makati City.

“We just saw it last night, nandoon pala sa website niya. You can buy fake Philippine [tax stamps],” Dominguez said.

“Please don’t buy ha,” he told reporters in jest.

Dominguez’s letter to Ma comes as the government investigates Mighty Corporation over the alleged use of counterfeit tax stamps.

He said they are bent on running after Mighty Corp. despite the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by a Manila court stopping the Bureau of Customs (BOC) from conducting raids or inspections at the warehouses of the cigarette manufacturer.

The TRO was issued last Monday, and is good for a period of 20 days or from March 3 to 23, 2017.

Dominguez said they will “move very quickly” to have the TRO lifted.

“We have already discussed this with the Executive Secretary and the Secretary of Justice. We will pursue lifting it. We will even go to Supreme Court, if necessary, to lift that TRO,” he said, referring to Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II. —KBK, GMA News