Taxmen coming for Filipino fugitives

Manila has asked the Canadian taxman to help return a fugitive Filipino couple accused of defrauding The Philippines of millions of dollar in an elaborate tax scam.

Philippines Internal Revenue commissioner Lilian Hefti, in a letter to Canada’s International Tax Directorate director general, requested information that will help in the extradition and prosecution of businessman Faustino Chingkoe and his wife Gloria.

Filipino prosecutors want to know if the Chingkoe couple are registered taxpayers in Canada and whether they paid the corresponding taxes of the $63.9 million income they acquired in the Philippines from 1995 to 1998.

The couple, who own a million-dollar Richmond house, three expensive condos and have three daughters educated at Crofton House private school, face a host of charges in The Philippines, including "plunder," falsification of documents and tax evasion.

"In accordance with the exchange of information provisions of our income tax treaty, we request your assistance in obtaining information which are vital in strengthening evidence for the filing of tax cases against the aforementioned spouses," Hefti said in her letter.

"We have information that part of the proceeds of the illegal sale of the fraudulently obtained tax credit certificates were diverted by the spouses Chingkoe to Canada and were used by them to fund business transactions and purchase of properties," Hefti said.

on July 24, 2003, exposed the fugitive couple’s whereabouts in Canada, prompting The Philippine authorities to seek their extradition.

At that time, an investigation by The Asian Pacific Post showed that Faustino Chingkoe, his wife Gloria Eng Eng Chingkoe and their family lived on Tolmie Street in Richmond in a house worth over $500,000.

The couple has also invested in several other properties on Westminster Highway and on Alderbridge Way in Richmond, according to property records.

The Chingkoes are wanted for 83 cases of violations of the Philippines Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act as well as falsification of public documents.

They and several others are accused of defrauding the government of about $130 million in tax revenues.

Sources indicated that Faustino Chingkoe left for Vancouver, via Hong Kong, on a Cathay Pacific flight on Dec. 12, 2001, a day before charges were filed against him. It is believed he was travelling on a South Korean passport. It is understood that his wife had fled to Richmond a year earlier as the investigation in The Philippines began.

The scam, which defrauded the government of some $135 million in tax revenues, involves the fraudulent issuance of tax credit certificates.