Senator Hontiveros flags Ukraine firm's remittance in CaLe88 fund trail

MANILA – A Ukrainian company appearing in CaLe88 Foods Corp.’s foreign transaction records sent its last remittance to the Davao-based exporter after a criminal investigation involving alleged fraud and money laundering had already been opened in the foreign country, Senator-judge Risa Hontiveros said Friday.

At the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Z. Duterte, Hontiveros identified the remitter as Arkmen LLC, with Ukrainian registration number 41423974, after her office reviewed foreign transactions of CaLe88 outside those originating from China.

She said Arkmen’s last inward remittance to CaLe88 was recorded on May 30, 2025, while a criminal proceeding involving the company was opened on May 19.

Hontiveros then turned to Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Office of the Commissioner chief of staff Anne Loraine Garcia-Marquez to determine what a legitimate commercial transaction between the two companies should look like in CaLe88’s tax records.

“Kung ito po ay sales po, then it should have been reported po in the annual income tax return (If these were sales, then these should have been reported in the annual income tax return),” Marquez said.

Hontiveros said the issue could therefore be examined through the existing coordination between the BIR and the Anti-Money Laundering Council, particularly whether the foreign inflows corresponded to sales reported for tax purposes.

Marquez earlier confirmed that such coordination exists between the two agencies in investigating possible taxpayer violations.

CaLe88 is among nine businesses included in a BIR audit ordered in April covering Duterte, her husband lawyer Manases Carpio and companies linked to them.

Earlier records presented by the Securities and Exchange Commission in the impeachment proceedings identified CaLe88 among the companies being examined for their earnings, ownership and links to the financial interests declared by Duterte and Carpio. (PNA)