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Thursday, June 26, 2003
Customs staffers lifestyle-checked
CEBU -- Commissioner Antonio Bernardo has sent two lawyers to check the lifestyles of officials and employees of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in Cebu, acting on reports some of them drive luxurious cars or live in houses they can’t afford.
The customs bureau’s move became public the same day as the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas’ decision to dismiss a Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) division chief for falsification and dishonesty.
The customs bureau and BIR often land in the top five most corrupt government agencies, according to opinion surveys by the Social Weather Stations and other polling institutions.
Bernardo, in a phone interview, told Sun.Star he received reports he wants the two lawyers to verify, but didn’t say how the two will gather evidence.
These “raw” reports cover, among others, a female BOC employee who is paid only P8,000 monthly yet drives a Ford Expedition worth P2.8 million and a male employee who has reportedly invested in a computer venture and maintains several mistresses.
Some earn P8,000 to P15,000 a month, yet rent houses for P15,000 to P30,000 and still have enough money to hand over to their families. Others frequent casinos in Lahug, Cebu City and in Mactan.
Bernardo expects lawyers Bolivar Puno and Danilo Umacob to submit a report, which he will evaluate before deciding whether to pursue investigations for unexplained wealth.
Lucky break
Government officials, who are required to submit an annual statement of assets and liabilities, may face administrative investigations for unexplained wealth, under the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
But just last Monday, the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission’s campaign to conduct “lifestyle checks” was set back when the Court of Appeals halted the first such check on a BIR official who allegedly failed to declare two luxury vehicles.
In the BIR Cebu’s case, it took a coincidence to pin down BIR special investigation chief Nieto Racho and his P5.8 million in undeclared bank deposits.
The coincidence took the form of a terminated BIR central office investigation and the records it sent the Visayas anti-graft office. Three documents, inserted in the remanded folder, made the difference.
Racho was charged on the basis of a letter-complaint submitted by radio dyHP’s news team.
The letter, dated Nov. 9, 2001, came with photocopies of three bank deposit certifications issued by the Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company, Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) and Equitable PCI Bank.
Bank secrecy
A subsequent fact-finding investigation compared the figures in the bank deposit certificates with Racho’s submitted statements of assets and liabilities (SALs) from 1995 to 2000, which reflected only P1 million as of December 2000.
But despite the glaring inconsistencies between the bank records and the office’s sworn statement of assets, the fact that the bank certifications were unverified photocopies cursed the case with a weak foundation, said ombudsman liaison officer Estela Alma Singco.
“We cannot get the bank to confirm the authenticity of the photocopied documents because they would only invoke the Bank Secrecy Law. We cannot get access to their records without a court order and the court will not allow it unless a case is already filed,” she said.
According to Singco, the case against Racho failed as expected, with Graft Investigator Pio Dargantes, in January this year, recommending its dismissal. He raised the need to authenticate the photocopied bank statements.
However, as the records of the case revealed, the BIR central office, which was conducting its own administrative investigation against Racho, found out about the anti-graft office’s investigation and terminated its own.
The BIR, giving way to the anti-graft office, then closed its inquiry and sent all the records they had to the anti-graft office.
Authenticated
Among the papers in the folder were copies of the same bank certifications attached to the original complaint, but with a difference—they were all authenticated as genuine reproductions.
“We don’t know how the BIR in Manila was able to obtain these records. But these records were authenticated,” Singco said.
According to Singco, this was Ombudsman Director Virginia Santiago’s basis to overrule Dargantes’ findings and recommend Racho’s dismissal from government service.
Deputy Ombudsman Primo Miro approved the recommendation, which not only voids Racho’s benefits and disqualifies him from government service, but also recommends the filing of a criminal case against him before the Regional Trial Court.
Had it not been for the BIR’s remanded records, Dargantes’ findings might have been approved, Singco said.
“(Banks) would never cooperate without a court order and a court order cannot be obtained at this stage of the investigation,” she added. EOB/KNR/Sun.Star Cebu
(June 26, 2003 issue)
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