THE Supreme Court (SC) has upheld the acquittal of retired Army Lt. Gen. Jacinto Ligot and wife Erlinda of four counts of tax evasion for allegedly under-declaring their income from 2001 to 2004 amounting to P458 million.
In a 20-page decision penned by Associate Justice Henri Jean Paul Inting said.
promulgated on December 5, 2022 but only made public on April 19, the High Court’s Third Division held that the Third Division of the Court of Tax Appeals did not commit grave abuse of discretion when junked the tax evasion cases against the Ligots.
To recall, the CTA in a ruling issued on January 8, 2019 declared that the prosecution failed to prove that the couple was guilty beyond reasonable doubt of tax evasion in violation of the 1997 National Internal Revenue Code.
In October of the same year, the CTA issued a resolution denying the motion for reconsideration filed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Department of Justice on the case.
The CTA held that the prosecution’s theory in all four criminal cases against the couple were founded largely on the alleged existence of the spouses’ bank deposits, investments, and other financial affairs.
However, it said the prosecution’s evidence such as bank statements and documents were excluded by law and were thus inadmissible, while the former also failed to prove the authenticity of its other pieces of evidence.
Likewise, it explained that the exceptions to the Bank Secrecy laws cannot be extended to apply to tax evasion cases.
The SC upheld the CTA’s ruling saying that the “dismissal of the present petition is warranted for lack of merit.”
Likewise, it added that the CTA did not commit any error of jurisdiction when it junked the cases against the retired Army general and his wife.
“The CTA also did not commit grave abuse of discretion in acquitting accused-respondents of the offenses charged,” the SC ruled, stressing that the CTA resolved the case only after all the evidence were considered, weighed, and passed upon.
“When there is no allegation or proof of mistrial, there is no need for the Court to reexamine the evidence adduced by the parties. To do so will only amount to allowing an appeal to be made on acquittal which would clearly be in violation of the accused’s right against double jeopardy,” it said.
It added “the petitioner should not be permitted to accomplish by certiorari what it cannot do by appeal.”
“In view of the foregoing, the Court finds that there was nothing capricious, whimsical, or even arbitrary in the CTA’s ruling that the prosecution failed to establish accused-respondents’ guilt beyond reasonable doubt,” the court ruled.
To recall, the Ligots were accused of amassing wealth- several parcels of land, condominium units, a Toyota Hilux vehicle, bank deposits and other properties — which were allegedly grossly disproportionate to what they actually declared in their Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth and Income Tax Return.
