Steel firm debunks claims of dismissed BOC official

THE LEGAL counsel of a top steel firm yesterday slammed a dismissed Bureau of Customs (BOC) deputy commissioner for making irresponsible claims against the company.

Sanyo Seiki Stainless Steel Corp. chief counsel Frank Chavez said that the claims of Gregorio Chavez, the former Customs deputy commissioner who used to lead the agency’s Run After the Smugglers (RATS) group, were “inconsistent thus, incriminating.”

Gregorio Chavez’s claims were the subject of a three-part special Inquirer report.

“In Chavez’s published statement, he admitted that there was indeed a P179-million demand from Sanyo Seiki. If Chavez claims that this amount was for unpaid taxes and duties, then why was the mode for the demand done in an unscrupulous manner through dubious emissaries,” said the steel firm’s counsel.

Affidavits showed that one of those who pressured Sanyo Seiki to “pay off” the dismissed Customs men was Leo Peter Paul Gonzales, who resigned from his position as chief operating officer of the twenty-year-old steel firm.

Gonzales was discovered to be working with the suspects behind the extortion attempt, as evidenced by the recovery and transcription of the contents of his computer and cell phone. Others accused of working with the dismissed Customs men were Godofredo and Anabel Mozo, both customs brokers recommended by Gonzalez, and Marivic Jong Briones, vice president for internal and external affairs of the Port Users Confederation.

Sanyo Seiki’s counsel also hit the former BOC official’s claim that the RATS team had mission orders addressed to different entities.

This only highlighted the defects of their mission orders, which the dismissed Customs men used to conduct “Gestapotype” raids and illegal stakeouts to harass Sanyo Seiki, the counsel said.