Singer Claire dela Fuente gets 7 years in jail over tax evasion

Photo from ABS CBN

Former popular singer and businesswoman Claire Dela Fuente was sentenced by the Court of Appeals of up to seven years in jail for tax evasion.

Dela Fuente, the operator of the Philippine Corinthian Liner Corp., was ordered by the court to pay a fine of P150,000.

Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has filed the criminal case 10 years ago which rooted from the non-filing of income tax returns from 1998-2004.

The former singer will get one-year imprisonment for each year of the seven counts of tax violation.

Meanwhile, Dela Fuente denied the charges stating that her bus company started operating only in 2005.

The court, on the other hand, dismissed her claim when the BIR presented PCLC’s records filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board, and the Land Transportation Office.

Also, according to BIR, aside from the bus line, the business also includes vulcanizing, auto repair, auto building, chassis fabrication, and auto parts.

The court ignored the PCLC’s 2005 BIR registration presented during the trial which was described by revenue lawyers as false.

Dela Fuente, Clarita Crisostomo Dela Fuente-De Guzman, achieved her celebrity status in the late 1970s with the jukebox hit "Sayang".

She was given the title "Asia's Sweetest Voice" because of her sweet voice. She was dubbed "the Karen Carpenter of the Philippines" as her voice has a striking resemblance to that of the late singer.