Trial of Jeane Napoles' tax evasion case moved to May

The trial of the P17.46-million tax evasion case filed against Jeane Catherine Napoles, youngest daughter of alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles was called off Wednesday after a prosecutor from the Department of Justice (DOJ) admitted that he has yet to fully study the case.

At the scheduled trial at the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) Third Division, state prosecutor Loverhette Jeffrey Villordon moved for the cancellation of the proceedings, saying the case was assigned to him only last Monday.

Villordon replaced state prosecutors Catherine Isabel Caeg and Stephanie Maderazo in handling the case.

Villordon said Caeg is now assigned in a regional office of the DOJ while Maderazo was tasked to handle another case with the Supreme Court.

Villordon said that while he has already began reading the transcript of stenographic notes (TSN) of the previous hearings, which started on October 14, 2015, there are still several documents presented by the prosecution team as evidence which remain "unclear" to him.

Further, Villordon said there are additional documents the prosecution recently obtained from the United States that he also need to review as their team intends to present them as evidence.

Villordon asked the court to give him the entire month of April to study the case

Napoles’ lawyer, Lanee David was scheduled to cross-examine the prosecution’s witness, revenue officer Josephine Madera.

“Although I am ready to conduct the cross-examination today, I do not want to take advantage of the situation of the prosecution,” David said.

With no objection from the defense panel, Associate Justice Esperanza Fabon-Victorino ruled to cancel the day’s proceedings and moved it to May 11.

Napoles is facing cases of violation of Sections 254 and 255 of the National Internal Revenue Code for allegedly failing to file her income tax return (ITR) as well as to pay her income tax for the year 2011, despite her acquisition in that year of a posh condominium unit at Ritz Carlton in Los Angeles, United States worth $2 million.

But Napoles' lawyers are contesting the cases, insisting that she has no income of her own in that year and therefore is not required to pay income tax.

The defense also maintained that Napoles’ parents are the real owners of the Ritz Carlton property and just named it under their youngest daughter.

However, in her testimony during the previous hearing last month, prosecution witness Madera said Napoles was already a registered taxpayer at the age of 18.

Madera said Napoles has in fact registered twice – in Alabang in Muntinlupa City and in Pasig City – despite that her registered address was only in Alabang.

Based on a grant of deed earlier presented by the prosecution before the court, Napoles was already 21 years old when the Ritz Carlton condominium unit was named after her on July 18, 2011.

Madera said that based on the BIR records, Napoles never paid any taxes in 2011, the year she supposedly acquired the Ritz Carlton property. — APG, GMA News