- 37 - any of the disallowed checks or the accounts payable to Okay Leaf was used to purchase tobacco. Petitioners' evidence in the form of the audit report covering Mr. Wells' returns for 1988 through 1991 suggests that Beaufort Leaf sold excess-quota tobacco after having filed fraudulent Forms MQ-79 and paid some of the proceeds of the sales to Mr. Wells or members of his organization. The checks disallowed by respondent are payable to persons identified in the audit report as persons associated with Mr. Wells. The same is true of the account payable to Okay Leaf, a company identified in the audit report as controlled by Mr. Wells. Therefore, petitioners' own evidence suggests that the Forms MQ-79 filed by Beaufort Leaf were falsified to document purchases of tobacco when, in fact, purchases of tobacco were not made by Beaufort Leaf. The audit report suggests that the checks were issued to persons related to Mr. Wells in order to transmit proceeds of the scheme to Mr. Wells. Furthermore, we note that petitioners did not seek testimony from any of the check payees or Okay Leaf to show the nature of the payments made. See Wichita Terminal Elevator Co. v. Commissioner, 6 T.C. 1158 (1946), affd. 162 F.2d 513 (10th Cir. 1947). We also note that petitioners do not claim that the checks were paid for any purpose otherPage: Previous 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 Next
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