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Nobel laureate Maria Ressa and her online news site are tax free : NPR


Filipino journalist Maria Ressa, one of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winners and Rappler CEO, speaks to the media following the court ruling at the Tax Court of Appeal in Quezon City, Philippines. A court on Wednesday cleared Ressa and her online news company of tax evasion.

Basilio Sepe/AP


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Filipino journalist Maria Ressa, one of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winners and Rappler CEO, speaks to the media following the court ruling at the Tax Court of Appeal in Quezon City, Philippines. A court on Wednesday cleared Ressa and her online news company of tax evasion.

Basilio Sepe/AP

MANILA, Philippines — Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa and her online news company were cleared on Wednesday of allegations of tax evasion, which she said were among a number of legal cases filed by the former President. Philippine Rodrigo Duterte used to try to silence critical articles.

The tax appeals court ruled that prosecutors had failed to demonstrate “there is no reasonable doubt” that Ressa and Rappler Holdings Corp. evaded taxes in four cases after raising capital through a partnership with two foreign investors. “The defendant’s acquittal is based on the court’s conclusion… that the defendant committed no crime,” the court said in its decision.

Rappler welcomed the court’s decision as “a victory of truth over politics.”

“We thank the court for this fair decision and for its recognition that the fraudulent, false, and sketchy allegations brought by the Internal Revenue Service do not have any factual basis,” said Rappler. said in a statement. “An adverse decision would have far-reaching implications for both the press and capital markets.”

“Today, truth wins, truth wins, justice wins,” Rappler quoted Ressa as saying after the verdict was announced.

Human Rights Watch said the taxes under Duterte were “bogus and politically motivated” and that Ressa and Rappler’s acquittal “is a victory for press freedom in the Philippines. “

Ressa won the Nobel Prize alongside Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov in 2021 for fighting for the survival of their news organizations, despite efforts to shut down the government. The two were honored for their “efforts to defend freedom of expression, which is a prerequisite for democracy and lasting peace.”

The tax allegations against Ressa and Rappler stem from a separate allegation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Manila’s corporate watchdog, in 2018 that the news site violated a constitutional provision that forbade it. Foreign ownership and control of Philippine media companies when receiving funds from foreign investors. Omidyar Network and North Base Media through financial papers known as Philippine Deposit Receipts.

The Philippine Commission then ordered Rappler to be shut down on the basis of the allegation, but Rappler denied and appealed saying it was a news company wholly owned and controlled by Filipinos.

The tax court has ruled that the Philippine Depository Receipts issued by Rappler are not taxable, removing the basis of tax evasion allegations filed by Justice Department prosecutors under Duterte.

The court said: “The defendant made no profit or income in the subject transactions.

There was no immediate response from the government and Duterte.

Ressa and Rappler face three more legal cases, a separate tax case filed by prosecutors in another court, her appeal in the Supreme Court to a direct defamation verdict Rappler’s line and appeal against the closing order issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Ressa faces six years in prison if she loses a defamation appeal filed by a businessman.

Rappler, founded in 2012, is one of a number of Philippine and international news agencies that have reported criticism of Duterte’s brutal crackdown on illegal drugs that has left thousands of key drug suspects in the dark. mostly small, and his handling of coronavirus outbreaks, including prolonged police-enforced lockdowns, deepened poverty, triggering one of the land’s worst recessions countries and sparked accusations of corruption in government medical procurement.

The drug-fuelled mass murder sparked an International Criminal Court investigation as a possible crime against humanity.

Mr. Duterte ended his often turbulent six-year term last year and was succeeded by Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son of a dictator who was ousted in a “people power” uprising led by the people. military-backed in 1986 after an era marked by widespread human rights abuses. and plunder.

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