Mighty Corp. is willing to open all its warehouses to cooperate with the Bureau of Customs (BOC) for seizure of fake cigarette products should any be found within its premises. It reiterates its long-standing position that it is not in the business of producing fake cigarette products as its own local brands are well-accepted by its customers, Mighty Corp. executive vice president and spokesperson Oscar Barrientos said.
The raid of its four warehouses at the park was based on a Letter of Authority signed by Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon.
Barrientos, however, bewailed “the use by other government agencies of Mission Orders of BOC to pursue schemes of its competitors to seize its products using a false pretext that fake cigarettes are stored in its warehouses because of its being in the forefront of effort to alleviate the plight of local tobacco farmers through amendatory legislation.”
Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) director for Central Luzon Jethro Sabariaga said his agency has taken jurisdiction over the case, including the padlocking of the warehouses initially done by agents of the BOC.
The BIR also seized 41 huge cases of seized cigarettes with the Marvel brand for testing. It said most of the cigarette boxes remained in the warehouses.
Barrientos insisted, however, that “no fake projects of its competitors were found” during the raids. “That should have aborted the activity. But other government regulators without appropriate Mission Orders or directives from its head offices had used the raid to assert offenses by Mighty not covered by the BOC orders.”
“Mighty had reiterated its plea that the BOC keep vigilant at its function to avert smuggling and ensure collection of duties and taxes as it does not produce fake products and had done nothing to violate any of its regulations or of the Tariff and Customs Code,” he said.
Sabariaga noted that Mighty Corp. lawyers and representatives met with the BIR Wednesday night to admit ownership of the seized items.
He said, however, that the cigarettes would remain under the jurisdiction of the BIR for seven days before they were turned over to the Large Taxpayer Service and the BIR Commissioner’s office.
“If the stamps on the cigarette packs are found to be fake and excise taxes were unpaid, there will be criminal liability for the owner,” he said.
The BIR estimated the warehouses had some 90,000 “master cases” which translated to 45 million boxes of cigarettes.
The BIR said that excise tax on the products could cost P1.2 billion.
BOC personnel said that after last Wednesday’s raids, they subjected the cigarette packs which they chose at random for scanning and this led them to discover that their tax stamps were not authentic.
