BIR execs relieved amid graft raps

Two assistant commissioners of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) were relieved yesterday and reassigned to the Office of the Commissioner after the Department of Finance (DOF) filed graft charges against them before the Office of the Ombudsman.

Vowing to clamp down on graft, President Arroyo said rampant corruption had not only disgraced public service but also compromised national security and stability.

"We cannot tolerate the corrupt enrichment of a few at the expense of the good name and prestige of the majority of civil servants who serve honestly and devotedly," she said in a statement.

"We shall crack down on corruption in the same degree we are cracking down on terror and drugs," the President added.

BIR Commissioner Guillermo Parayno said Assistant Commissioners Edwin Abella and Percival Salazar were charged with graft and corruption, along with resigned BIR regional director Lucien Sayuno and Manuel Valencia, warehousing chief at the Bureau of Customs.

Parayno said Sayuno is not yet off the hook because his resignation does not stop the government from filing a criminal complaint against him.

"He and his family decided that he resign from the service, so I can’t do anything about that, but a criminal case was still filed against him," Parayno said.

Finance Assistant Secretary Noel Bunoan said all four officials have been tagged for "unexplained wealth" after a "systematic" investigation of the lifestyles of BIR and Customs officials to stamp out corruption in the two agencies notorious for graft.

"This is part of a systematic investigation and we are building up more cases against other officials and employees," he said.

"It is important for the DOF that revenue officials are seen with integrity. The point is to get them out of service."

Bunoan heads the DOF’s Central Management Information Office (CMIO) which carried out the investigation together with the Department of Justice (DOJ).

State Prosecutor Mark Jalandoni said Abella, Salazar, Sayuno and Valencia were charged with various offenses, ranging from "unexplained wealth" to falsification of public documents, which carries a minimum prison term of six years.

"For these violations, all their unexplained wealth will be confiscated," he said.

They could be suspended, dismissed or permanently disqualified from holding public office, he added.

Jalandoni said the government is preparing to charge more BIR officials, but he refused to give details.

"They’re mostly along these same lines — unexplained wealth, falsification of public documents and misrepresentation," he said.

Parayno said he had placed Abella and Salazar in the Office of the Commissioner, pending an investigation of the Office of the Ombudsman.

Their previous functions have been assigned to other BIR officials, he added.

Parayno said the BIR commissioner has the authority to suspend BIR officials, but he decided to relieve Abella and Salazar to ensure that they would continue reporting for work and be available for investigation.

"Putting them under preventive suspension, under the law, would only allow them to take a paid leave," he said.

"Preventive suspension without pay is a drastic measure that only the Ombudsman is authorized to order. So I just relieved them of their previous duties."

Earlier, the BIR information office had issued a press release announcing the dismissal of Abella and Salazar, but it was later withdrawn.

A BIR spokesman later said the two officials have been relieved from their post and reassigned to the Office of the Commissioner.

A DOF investigation showed that Abella, whose monthly salary was only around P24,800, had a declared asset of P10.2 million with liabilities of P1.7 million or a net worth of P8.5 million.

Salazar, on the other hand, had a declared net worth of about P3.8 million, although he was found to have undeclared assets, including an unregistered printing company that was operating without a permit, which in turn, also owns a number of properties.

Sayuno has already been reported of having "unexplained wealth," including a house and lot in the posh Ayala Alabang Village, 12 luxury vehicles and memberships in expensive golf clubs.

His net worth was P3.3 million, when he was receiving a salary of only P22,700 every month, records showed.

Valencia, who receives only P21,200 monthly, had a declared net worth of P1.5 million, but DOF investigators discovered undeclared assets, including about $3.8 million in cash, five lots in Parañaque and a rice farmland in General Trias, Cavite.

Bunoan said the DOF was confident that the Office of the Ombudsman would uphold the complaint against the four officials.

"It was a painstaking process to build up these cases," he said. "It is in our interest not to file whimsical charges against our co-workers in government, so we made sure that our case would stand up in court."

Meanwhile, DOF and DOJ officials said yesterday a second batch of complaints will be filed against an undisclosed number of BIR officials suspected of graft and corruption. — With reports from Pia Lee-Brago, Marichu Villanueva, AFP