Manila, Philippines –  The Supreme Court (SC) is being asked to order the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to examine the evidence that was used as basis in filing a plunder case against one of the suspects in the multi-million-peso tax credit scam.

The request was made by Grace T. Chingkoe, who, along with former officials of the Department of Finance (DoF) and other private individuals, was accused of defrauding the government some P73.76 million, representing the value of 28 tax credit certificates (TCC) granted between 1995 and 1997 to Filstar Textile Industrial Corp.

Grace served as corporate secretary of Filstar, which is owned by her plunder co-accused Faustino and Gloria Chingkoe.

In a four-page motion with leave of court, Grace asked the High Court to direct the NBI to examine the authenticity of the signature appearing on the secretary’s certificate she purportedly issued in 1996 to authorize certain individuals to apply for TCCs in favor of Filstar.

Grace denied having issued the certificate, which accounts to four TCCs amounting to almost P13 million, and insisted that her signatures appearing on the document was forged.

She said the issue of forgery may only be resolved if the SC will allow the NBI to conduct an examination of the subject certificate as well as certain documents bearing her signature.

“For the foregoing reason and in view of the materiality of such determination, petitioner, consistent with substantial justice, respectfully begs leave from the Honorable Court and prays that her alleged signature appearing on the hereto attached September 12, 1996 secretary’s certificate to be examined by the NBI to determine its authenticity,” she appealed.

Earlier, Grace asked the SC to reconsider its ruling upholding her indictment for plunder before the Sandiganbayan. Plunder is a capital and non-bailable offense punishable by life imprisonment.

The SC ruling, dated July 19, 2010, gave the anti-graft court the green light to enforce the arrest order against her and her co-accused after finding probable cause to prosecute them for plunder.

Chingkoe argued that the plunder charge against her has no basis considering that only four TCCs amounting to almost P13 million, which is at least P37 million short of the P50 million requirement for the filing of a plunder case.

“Since the only basis of the Office of the Ombudsman in recommending the prosecution of herein petitioner for the crime of plunder is the purported execution of the September 12, 1996 secretary’s certificate, the same should inevitably fail as only P12, 913,740 worth of TCCs were allegedly issued pursuant thereto.