DOF to implement lifestyle checks on Customs officials

Rappler.com

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DOF to implement lifestyle checks on Customs officials
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III orders checks and a forensic analysis of data including the possible opening of bank accounts linked to corrupt activities

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Finance (DOF) will enact stricter measures, including checking the bank accounts of executives at the Bureau of Customs (BOC), in order to curb corruption at the BOC.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III ordered lifestyle checks and a forensic analysis of data, including the possible opening of bank accounts linked to corrupt activities, a DOF statement said on November 14.

“We have to be smart about catching corrupt people. You cannot always catch them like, you know, playing cops and robbers. We have to catch them by …checking their lifestyle, checking their bank accounts, checking how many cars they own,” Dominguez said. 

The government agency has previously said that relaxing the country’s bank secrecy law would be an effective way to flush out corrupt government officials as well as tax dodgers.

As part of its ongoing campaign for tax reform, the DOF has also asked the Congress to pass new legislation that will relax bank secrecy laws for tax fraud cases and include tax evasion as a predicate crime for money laundering. 

As an opening salvo, the BOC recently ordered the relief of Deputy Commissioner Arnel Alcaraz as officer-in-charge of its Enforcement Group, after President Duterte said he wants a certain Customs official suspended and removed from office for alleged corruption. 

Alcaraz was replaced as OIC of the Enforcement Group by Isabelo Tibayan III, the director of the Enforcement and Security Service. 

The BOC recently received the dubious honor having the lowest rating from businessmen when it comes to sincerity in fighting corruption, based on Social Weather Stations 2016 Survey of Enterprises Against Corruption.

The agency has also struggled to meet its modified revenue targets which it blames in part on corruption. – Rappler.com

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