ABS-CBN's Lopez charged with violation of tax code

Eugenio L. Lopez lll, ABS-CBN chairman and chief executive officer, was charged before the Quezon City Prosecutor's Office on Wednesday with violations of the tax code. The Bureau of Internal Revenue accused Lopez of failure to present the accounting books of cable television company Pilipino Cable Corp. Lopez is president of the company. Pilipino Cable, in a text message sent to GMANews.TV, said it was not aware of a case filed against Lopez. "PCC is not currently aware of any case filed by the commissioner of internal revenue against the corporation or any of its officers. In fact, it has not received any such complaint by the BIR," the company said in the text message. Lopez was charged with violations of Sections 5 and 14 of the Tax Reform Act after allegedly failing to submit the company's books to the BIR. On January 29, 2007, the BIR served Lopez with a subpoena requesting him to appear before the tax agency's legal division chief on February 1. Lopez was ordered to bring with him the accounting records of Pilipino Cable. The legal tussle between the BIR and Lopez started in August 2005 when the media mogul reportedly snubbed the tax agency's request for him to present the company's books of account. The BIR said that despite the subpoena, Lopez still failed to appear before the tax agency's office and present the company's books. Pilipino Cable is the Lopez family's provincial cable service provider. It maintains 22 provincial systems nationwide. GMANews.tv is the official Web site of the GMA News and Public Affairs department of GMA Network Inc., a competitor of ABS-CBN of the Lopez family. -GMANews.TV