Kapa founder’s hubby charged with tax evasion

The wife of pastor Joel Apolinario, founder of the Kapa Community Ministry International (Kapa), has been slapped with a P168 million tax evasion case by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) before the Department of Justice (DoJ).

Charged was Reyna L. Apolinario, who also serves as corporate secretary of Kapa which was tagged by no less than President Rodrigo Duterte in an alleged investment scam.

Kapa is believed to have solicited billions of pesos in “donations” from its five million members throughout the country.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said that the investment-taking activity of Kapa constituted a Ponzi scheme, an investment program that offers impossibly high returns and pays investors out of the capital contributed by later investors.

The commission added Kapa “amassed wealth through an investment scam in the guise of religion and at the expense of the investing public.”

According to some members, Kapa promised a 30 percent “blessing” every month on a minimum “donation” of P10,000.

In the complaint, the BIR alleged that Mrs. Apolinario failed to pay the right income tax for 2017 and 2018 amounting to P163.9 million and P4.3 million, respectively.

The BIR also alleged that Mrs. Apolinario did not file income tax returns (ITR) for the years 2012 to 2015, but submitted ITRs in 2017 and 2018, paying P172,100 and P12 million, respectively.

Furthermore, the BIR bared that Mrs. Apolinario’s 2018 financial statement showed undeclared sources of income 2017 amounting to P307 million in cash, luxury cars, heavy machinery, and real estate.

It was also discovered that she owns nine vehicles all registered in her name, all undeclared in her financial statements.

Records also showed that Mrs. Apolinario owns 13 business enterprises including a hotel, gasoline stations, convenience stores, computer shops, quarry, convention center, restaurant, a fishing boat, and a media and marketing network.

Earlier, the National Bureau of Investigation recommended to the DoJ that the Kapa officers be charged in court for violation of SEC rules and several counts of syndicated estafa.