MANILA, Philippines — Two personnel of the Bureau of Internal Revenue were arrested Thursday by the National Bureau of Investigation right in their office in Manila in an entrapment operation set up following the complaint of a firm they were allegedly trying to extort money from.
P400,000 in marked money, supposedly part of the payoff to examiner Abolais Ampa and his supervisor Nora Halamini, was recovered from a drawer in Halamini’s desk. Both suspects had been working at the BIR for more than 20 years.
Henrik Uy, accounting head of Dealco Farms, said he requested the BIR to audit the firm because they were about to close.
However, the first thing Ampa allegedly asked him was how much their budget was.
After several visits to the BIR, Uy said, Alamani finally approached him and demanded P800,000, half of this for her and Ampa, or she would not release the payment form the firm needed to meet its tax obligations.
Ampa and Halamini declined to comment. Both will be charged with robbery-extortion and violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, which could earn them jail sentences of up to 12 years if found guilty.
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