A criminal complaint for falsification has been filed by the Sugar Anti Smuggling Organization against a sugar trader before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office, Retired Gen. Joel Goltiao, SASO chief, said yesterday in a press release.

The company is suspected of purchasing large amounts of D sugar (for export) but diverting the stocks to the domestic market, the SASO press release said.

Included in the complaint are the company’s stockholders, directors, and officers, which were not named in the press release.

The complaint is for violating Article 172 of the revised Penal Code, falsification by private individuals and use of falsified documents in sugar trading, it said.

The complaint affidavit (12G-06907) was received by the Quezon City prosecutor’s office on July 30 and is expected to be acted upon within the week. The company is suspected of purchasing large amounts of D sugar for export but diverting the stocks to the domestic market, the press release said.

The company is engaged in the import/export of all kinds of goods and commodities as permitted by law. An application for Export Clearance was submitted to the SRA but failed to report and comply with other documents on time providing the details of the export transaction in compliance with SRA requirements. Included in the requirements are the information on the loading and actual shipment of the sugar stocks, the press release said.

An investigation was conducted by the Licensing and Monitoring Division of the Regulation Department, SRA, including inquiries and requests to the Bureau of Customs (BoC) for the authentication and certification on the Export Clearance Documents of the company, it said.

The BoC through Louis Adviento - Chief of the Export Division, Port of Manila responded that “No export documents were issued by his office to the suspected trader since January 2012”. He further noted that the signatures on the Export Declarations submitted by the suspect were all forged, it added.*

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