The Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) on Wednesday acquitted Nobel Laureate and Rappler CEO Maria Ressa and the Rappler Holdings Corporation (RHC) of four tax evasion charges that were filed under the Duterte administration.
Associate Justices Catherine Manahan, Jean Marie Bacorro-Villena, and Marian Ivy Reyes-Fajardo ruled to acquit RHC and Ressa “for failure of the prosecution to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.”
The Court also ordered the respective cash bail bonds of Ressa and RHC for the cases be canceled and released to them upon presentation of proper documents, in accordance with the usual accounting rules and regulations.for three counts of violation of Section 255 of the National Internal Revenue Code for incorrect and inaccurate information on income tax return for 2015, and value-added tax returns for the third and fourth quarters of 2015.
Rappler welcomed the development in a statement, calling out the BIR for alleged politicizing under the Duterte administration. The media firm said it would have caused “far-reaching repercussions” on both the press and the capital market if the Court upheld BIR. “Maria Ressa and RHC may have won today. But so did the ordinary taxpayer and businessman being unjustly harassed by the BIR,” it added.
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