Ex-BIR exec ordered: Return P5.7 M in ill-gotten wealth

MANILA, Philippines - The Cebu City regional trial court (RTC) has ordered a former officer of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to return to the government over P5.7 million which it declared ill-gotten.

Former revenue district officer Nieto Racho of Revenue District No. 83 in Talisay City, Cebu was found guilty of violating Republic Act 1379 in a civil case filed by the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas.

In a 10-page decision, Judge Alexander Acosta of Cebu City RTC Branch 9 ordered Racho to reconvey the total amount of P5,793,881.39 after declaring it ill-gotten and forfeited in favor of the government.

In case Racho fails to return the amount, the court said “properties of respondent with the value equivalent to said amount shall be forfeited.”

The case, according to the Office of the Ombudsman, stemmed from an anonymous complaint forwarded by dhYP Action Radio that resulted in a fact-finding investigation to gather evidence that Racho amassed assets disproportionate to his salary as a public officer.

Racho declared an annual salary of P220,093.70 in his 1998 Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) and cash in the bank of only P15,000 in his SALN for 1999.

Certifications from three banks, however, showed that he had an aggregate deposit of P5,793,881.39 from his six bank accounts in 1999.

In filing a case against the BIR officer, the Office of the Ombudsman said the law provides that “whenever any public officer or employee has acquired during his incumbency an amount of property which is manifestly out of proportion to his salary as such public officer or employee and to his other lawful income and the income from legitimately acquired property, said property shall be presumed prima facie to have been unlawfully acquired.”

Racho, according to the court decision, failed to rebut the presumption and prove that he lawfully acquired the amount.

In May 2003, Racho was dismissed from the service after a parallel administrative case filed with the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas found him guilty of falsification and dishonesty.

The penalty of dismissal from the service carries accessory penalties such as cancellation of eligibility, forfeiture of retirement benefits, perpetual disqualification from holding public office, and prohibition from taking civil service examinations.

Racho is also facing a criminal case for falsification for allegedly using a falsified special power of attorney.

He was acquitted in a separate case of falsification of public documents on Nov. 27, 2012.