BIR Investigating Corona, Henares Tells Court

MANILA, Philippines - Chief Justice Renato Corona is being investigated for discrepancies between his income and assets under his name, Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares said yesterday.

Testifying before the Senate impeachment court, Henares said she started to look into the documents of Corona when the Senate issued a subpoena for the income tax returns (ITRs) of the Chief Justice and his family last week.

“The data in the papers in front of me dictate that I should investigate further,” she said. “We are conducting an investigation at present.”

Henares said a day after her office received the subpoena on Jan. 18, she secured authorization from the Office of the President to disclose the details of the Coronas’ ITRs and the other documents the Senate had demanded.

“When one paper comes to me and I see something wrong, I order an investigation,” Henares said.

She said it is the normal process that whenever a document passes through her office, she checks to see if there is anything wrong.

“So in my first review, if there already is something wrong, then I will order (an investigation),” she said.

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