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Graft charges filed against Customs staff |
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JUN RAMIREZ |
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2007 | October 12, Manila
-- Graft charges were filed yesterday against several Bureau of Customs (BoC) officials and employees for alleged anomalous registration of luxury vehicles, the Office of the Ombudsman said.
Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez said the charges against the customs personnel were filed by the revenue integrity protection service (RIPS) of the Department of Finance (DoF), tasked with conducting lifestyle check on workers of agencies under the department.
Named as respondents in the complaint were customs collectors Jaime Maglipon and Aniceto Sanchez, Jr., customs examiner Solomon Sumpo and cashier Alfredo Opao, Jr., all of whom are assigned at the Zamboanga port.
They were all charged with causing undue injury to the government in the exercise of their official functions for allegedly causing the anomalous entry and registration of two luxury cars into the country without payment of the necessary duties and taxes.
Documents gathered by the RIPS revealed that the vehicles, a BMW and a Mercedes Benz, were shipped to Zamboanga with spurious import entries as these were issued to different shipments consisting of plywood and truck parts.
DoF officials alleged based on the paper trail, the registration of the said vehicles were made through the conspiracy and collective acts of Maglipon, Sanchez, Opao, and Sumpo, as they were the ones tasked to assess, review, and authenticate supporting documents of arriving shipments of imported vehicles.
It was estimated upon verification with the warrant and motor vehicle office of the customs bureau that the government lost by as much as R1.26 million as a result of the alleged anomalous transaction.
If convicted, the respondents faces a jail term of between six to 15 years aside from losing their retirement benefits and being perpetually banned from re-employment in the government service. |
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