Henares: BIR also investigates on Corona's documents

Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares said that Chief Justice Renato Corona is scrutinized for inconsistencies on earnings and properties under his name.

Henares as a witness in the impeachment trial of Corona said that data in the papers in front of her dictate that she should investigate further.

On January 18, the BIR commissioner requested approval from the Office of the President to reveal the information of the Coronas' ITRs and the further documents where the Senate has insisted.

She said, "When one paper comes to me and I see something wrong, I order an investigation."

Henares said that she used net asset, net worth method to determine whether there was some income that he did not report and did not pay taxes thereon.

The alpha list of the Supreme Court SC was the one that she investigated, it encloses the compensation, tax withheld and other pertinent information of all the employees, she added.

Henares said the use of the alpha list only came about since she was not able to locate a copy of any ITR Corona filed from 2002 to 2010.

On the other hand, Sen. Joker Arroyo said that the BIR's parallel investigation can be a bad sign to the public.

Arroyo said that he get a little bothered by that, he is not saying it is wrong or right, but a twin move against one person, here in the Senate through impeachment and another one in the internal revenue through investigation, using the powers of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, that is very potent.

He said that they do not want the public to think that the forces of government are being used. One impeachment initiated by the House of Representatives and now tossed to the Senate for trial, then another one for the BIR for some tax malfeasance or whatever. — ARA