BIR examiner in Cebu City arrested for extortion

CEBU CITY — Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) arrested an examiner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) the other day for extorting money from a lot owner.

Revenue officer Jimmy Napolis of the BIR’s south district was collared in an entrapment laid out by the NBI agents in an uptown fastfood outlet, upon the complaint of one Antonio Ruiz Jr.

Ruiz sought the NBI’s help after Napolis allegedly demanded P10,000 from him in exchange for manipulating his payable capital gains tax, amounting to P136,000, from the sale of his 525-square-meter lot in Sitio Antuanga, Barangay Quiot, to Nation Broadcasting Corp.

Ruiz said Napolis padded the amount by wrongly considering his lot to be located in an industrial zone when it is situated in an uphill area outside the San Carlos Heights Subdivision.

Based on his computation, Ruiz said his capital gains tax only amounted to P97,000, or six percent of the total value, not P136,000 as Napolis declared.

Ruiz said the lot he sold cost only P3,100 per square meter based on the zonal valuation approved by revenue district officer Estrella Lopez, not P4,325 as Napolis had computed.

But instead of rectifying his computation error, Napolis allegedly demanded P10,000 from Ruiz last week to settle his obligation. This prompted Ruiz to seek the NBI’s help.

Napolis was collared after accepting P3,000 in marked money during the entrapment operation. He, however, threw away the evidence while he was being brought to the NBI office.

Despite the loss of the marked money, the NBI filed extortion charges against Napolis yesterday since he tested positive for the ultraviolet powder.

Napolis is the second local BIR examiner to face extortion charges since 1999 when examiner Benjamin Gamorot was arrested by agents of the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force based on a lawyer’s complaint. — Freeman News Service