(IPYS/IFEX) – Tax court judge Nicolas Trujillo Lopez has finished an investigation and concluded that Baruch Ivcher and eight other associates in the mattress company Productos Paraíso del Perú S.A. are responsible for allegedly defrauding the state out of customs duties. Hilda Valladares, the provincial public prosecutor in charge of the case also reached the […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – Tax court judge Nicolas Trujillo Lopez has finished an
investigation and concluded that Baruch Ivcher and eight other associates
in the mattress company Productos Paraíso del Perú S.A. are responsible for
allegedly defrauding the state out of customs duties. Hilda Valladares, the
provincial public prosecutor in charge of the case also reached the same
conclusion. Among the eight is Rosario Lam Torres, general manager of the
mattress company; she has been held in the Chorrilos women’s prison since
February.
**For other cases involving Ivcher, see IFEX alerts**
Ivcher and his co-accused are charged with committing several tax
irregularities in importing materials and mattress production components
from Miami between 1992 and 1995. Duties allegedly evaded would total an
estimated 1,094,610 US dollars. Ivcher’s lawyer, Armando Lengua Balbi, said
his client paid the relevant duties to customs; Lengua accused the
government of harassing Ivcher, who is currently in his native country of
Israel.
Judge Trujillo and prosecutor Valladares each issued their reports, which
are available to the lawyers of the accused so they can enter their defense
pleas.
ANALYSIS:
Although Trujillo’s recent decision against Ivcher and some of his
associates is not directly related to the cases in which he was stripped of
his Peruvian citizenship and of the ownership of the Frecuencia
Latina/Channel 2 television station (see IFEX alerts), IPYS says this
customs case is weak and seems more like political reprisal. For at least
five years now, the national tax agency (the Superintendencia Nacional de
Administracion Tributaria, SUNAT) has become a tool used against opponents
of the government, explains IPYS. For example, Ivcher (in his mattress
production company), Jaime Mur (the husband of the Dean of the Bar), the
wife of journalist José Arrieta and several other opposition figures have
been unexpectedly and meticulously investigated by SUNAT. On occasion, some
have been charged, tried or even jailed. According to IPYS, this case
against Ivcher is another (“another stripe on the tiger” by the
Spanish-language expression) in the slew of actions against the
businessman, who has flared the tempers of the government.
