Pharmally’s estimated tax deficiency reaches P6.3 billion –tax expert

The estimated total tax deficiency of the Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation has reached P6.3 billion, a tax expert said on Thursday.

During the 18th hearing of the Blue Ribbon committee on the COVID-19 supply purchase, certified public accountant Mon Abrea said the P6.3 billion tax deficiency includes the penalties, charges, and interests of Pharmally.

Moreover, Abrea said the major assessment or items also included P7.3 billion unsupported purchases, P1.3 billion undeclared purchases, P1.3 billion undeclared sales, and P3.9 billion disallowed VATable purchases.

He said the figures were based on the information submitted by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to the committee.

“Base sa ating previous hearings, binigyan natin sila ng pagkakataon para magsumite. Pero naging basehan nito ‘yung mga information na sinumite ng BIR,” he added.

(Based on the previous hearings, we gave them the chance to submit documents. However, the basis of these figures were the information submitted by the BIR.)

Abrea also mentioned that of the P8.8 billion delivered goods to the Department of Budget and Management-Procurement Service (PS-DBM), only P7.5 billion was declared by Pharmally.

“Base doon sa delivery receipt na sinumbit ng PS-DBM, umabot sa P8.8 billion ang na-deliver na goods o binenta sa PS-DBM ng Pharmally pero sa kanilang audited financial statements, nasa P7.5 billion lamang ang kanilang na-deklara,” he added.

The P3.3 billion worth of purchase was then tracked to alleged suppliers named Evermore and Acme Pinnacle that were just registered on September 17, 2019, two weeks after Pharmally’s registration.

The partners from Evermore were identified as Theresa Neindre and Sylvia Gerangue, while those from Acme were Melanie Busime and Roxane Serintas.

“Wala din tayong dokumentong nakita kung sila ay lehitimong supplier dahil wala din silang record na base sa isinumite ng BIR, wala din silang record,” Abrea said.

(We did not see a document showing that they are legitimate suppliers because they don’t have a record based on what BIR submitted.)

Meanwhile, Senator Richard Gordon asked Abrea if the Pharmally may have possibly “faked” the deliveries of the products paid by the government.

“Base sa dokumento, yes. May posibilidad na ghost deliveries [Based on the document, yes. There was a possibility of ghost deliveries],” Abrea answered.

Gordon said this proved that the Pharmally has been “fooling” the government and the Filipino people amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Talagang lumalabas na mysterious, wala talagang dineliver. Having said that, nakita ninyo itong Evermore, hindi totoong tao 'tong mga pangalan,” he said.

(It really turns out to be mysterious, nothing was delivered. The names of those supposedly from Evermore were not real.)

“Ang ibig sabihin niyan, niloloko tayo ng Pharmally na pinalalabas na may supplier pero wala talaga,” he added.

(That means, Pharmally is fooling us by pretending that there was a supplier but there was really none.)

The Senate blue ribbon committee is investigating the transfer of P42 billion COVID-19 funds made by the Department of Health to the PS-DBM.

The PS-DBM also had a questionable transaction with Pharmally, which bagged P8.6 billion contracts on COVID-19 equipment despite having a  P625,000 paid-up capital.

In November 2021, Abrea said that out of the P7.2 billion purchases declared by Pharmally in its audited financial statement to the BIR, only P3.8 billion have supporting documents.—AOL, GMA News