MANILA: The Philippines鈥� justice department said on Friday it had found cause to indict online news site Rappler and its top executive for tax evasion.
The justice department said it 鈥渇ound probable cause鈥� to indict Rappler for violation of the country鈥檚 tax laws after it did not declare gains made in its 2015 tax returns.
Rappler said in a statement the indictment 鈥渋s a clear form of harassment鈥� and 鈥渁n attempt to silence reporting that does not please the administration.鈥�
The news site鈥檚 lawyer, Francis Lim, also said the case 鈥渉as no legal leg to stand on鈥� because Rappler did not evade any tax obligation.
Rappler is a frequent critic of the Philippines鈥� leader, Rodrigo Duterte, questioning the accuracy of his public statements and scrutinizing his war on drugs and his foreign policy decisions.
In a resolution last month, but made public only on Friday, a state prosecutor upheld a complaint from the internal revenue agency that Rappler and its top executive, Maria Ressa, had attempted to evade paying taxes by not reporting gains of almost $3 million in its 2015 tax returns.
The justice department鈥檚 statement said that the state prosecutor had dismissed Ressa鈥檚 defense that 鈥渢he non-declaration of such gain was neither intentional nor willful.鈥�