LTO-7 Regional Director Victor Caindec | file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Land Transportation Office in Central Visayas (LTO-7) has tapped the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in their pursuit against motor traders that have allegedly scammed customers.
In a letter to the NBI, LTO-7 Director Victor Caindec, said they found irregularities in the submission of invoices to LTO-7 from the actual records held by the motorcycle owners.
Caindec has written a “Request for Assistance and Investigation” to NBI to ask for help from the agency to investigate these anomalies.
While LTO-7 is focusing on the administrative aspect of the investigation, Caindec wishes to ask for the expertise of the NBI for the efficient detection and investigation of the crimes committed by these dealers.
As basis, he said the non-release of the original Certificate of Registration to owners, which bears no annotation or encumbrance in favor of the creditor, is illegal.
READ: LTO-7 files criminal charges against motorcycle dealers for falsification
Motorcycle owners, who fail to carry their motor vehicle’s Certificate of Registration and Official Receipt, violate the Republic Act 4136 or the Land Transportation and Traffic Code.
“We have uncovered several fraudulent sales practices of several dealerships which tantamount to huge loss of income to the government, which could significantly alleviate our economy from this pandemic,” said Caindec in his letter.
He also stated at least five motorcycle dealer corporations allegedly patterned the misreporting of business practice driven by the motive to evade taxes.
In previous statements to CDN Digital, the companies have denied the allegations of Caindec and claimed they were harassed by LTO-7 over these allegations affecting their trade as the agency allegedly refused to release their registrations.
This has prompted the companies to file various complaints against Caindec leading to a Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on February 18, 2021.
“By the volume of motorcycles sold, Government Revenues in the form of Taxes, Chattel fees, and LTO annotation fees are estimated to be in the HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS ANNUALLY or BILLIONS in a span of several years prior,” said Caindec.
The director also said there was a need to address the violations as they were of “transcendental importance to the government and public in general as it pertained to economic sabotage, syndicated estafa, large-scale fraud with tax evasion.”
The director revealed that a “presumed” investigation by the Bureau of Internal Revenue is currently being undertaken following the request of the agency to furnish them copies of receipts and sales invoiced submitted by the dealers to LTO-7 from 2018-2020.
READ: Motorcycle-riding groups to Senate: Give justice to victims of fraudulent deals
“This humble LTO Regional Office has readily exposed a grand scheme involving economic sabotage, tax evasion, and possible large-scale syndicated estafa,” he said.
In 2019, LTO-7 discovered issues through social media reports and complaints from the public via the Presidential Complaint Center, about delayed registrations and non-release of Certificate of Registrations of motorcycles sold by these dealers.
Upon investigation of LTO-7, the agency discovered the alleged illegal activities of these dealers, Caindec said in his letter.
/dbs
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