Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez ordered on Friday the suspension of a Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) official after being charged with unexplained wealth.

Ordered suspended for six months without pay was Revenue Officer III Arlene F. Grajeda.

In her eight-page order, Gutierrez said Grajeda was found to have misdeclared her Statement of Assets Liabilities and Networth (SALN) for the year 1998, 1999, and 2004 with regard to her real properties and assets worth P4,551,200.

The case against Grajeda stemmed for the complaint filed by Department of Finance-Revenue Integrity Protection Service (DoF-RIPS).

Investigators said they inquired from the Office of the Register of Deeds and Assessor's Office of the municipalities of Infanta and General Nakar, Quezon Province, that the land titles under Grajeda’s name and that of her husband, Danilo Balmaceda, have an estimated market value of P10,684,220.

The DoF-RIPS alleged that such undervalued assets in her SALNs are clearly a deliberate intent to conceal some of her assets to avoid any suspension of unexplained wealth.

In her 1998 SALN, Grajeda placed the amount of P1.5-million under the item for assets, but she failed to state the nature of such asset. In her 1999 SALN, she declared the amount of P2-million merely as an investment. In her 2004 SALN, it appeared that her assets was P5,191,095 and her liabilities was P3,155,000 which gives her a net worth of P2,036,095.

But probers found out that since 2001, Grajeda’s salary is only P161,124 per year or about P13,427 per month. It also appeared that her undeclared assets amounted to P10,684,220.

Complainants asserted that failure to declare several properties and business in Quezon Province and the substantial increase in value of her lavish house located in Quezon City constitute material concealment of unexplained wealth tantamount to multiple violations of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

With this, the anti-graft body made its initial findings that the fact Grajeda is earning purely compensation income would be mind-boggling as to how she was able to acquire several landholdings including a poultry business and at the same time be able to pay her monthly loan amortizations which appeared in her SALN amounting to more than P3-million.