A former Bureau of Internal Revenue officer accused of extorting P610,000 and 10-hectare farmland from a local businessman has failed anew to convince the Sandiganbayan to have his corruption case dismissed.

In a six-page resolution promulgated on 3 April, the anti-graft court Third Division denied BIR-Davao Region revenue officer Leo Gonzales' motion for reconsideration due to lack of merit.

Gonzales sought to reverse the Sandiganbayan's decision in October last year, affirming the ruling of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities of Davao City, finding him guilty of two counts of violation of Section 7 (d) of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees (RA 6713) in September 2022.

The erstwhile BIR official was accused of soliciting P610,000 and requesting 10-hectare farmland from Federico Barco, a businessman who had to settle a tax liability of P1,304,160.75.

Gonzales allegedly solicited the amount and requested a slice of Barco's 130-hectare banana farm in Arakan, North Cotabato, in exchange for the reduction of Barco's daughter's pending tax liability from P1,304,170.75 to P90,000.

In his appeal, Gonzales vehemently denied that he neither solicited P610,000 nor asked for 10 hectares of Barco's farmland, affirming he did not commit anything illegal or irregular.

He also questioned Barco's credibility as the Sandiganbayan's sole witness in the case despite his claim to have been caught lying on the material points of his testimony, which the prosecution denounced.

Furthermore, graft probers averred that Barco's farm was not an extension of Bakbak restaurant which was being investigated by BIR Davao City at the time and was already outside BIR's jurisdiction.

In junking Gonzales' motion, the Sandiganbayan said he failed to raise new arguments that would "alter, amend, revise, or even reverse, the findings of this Court."

"The bare denials of petitioner Gonzalez that he neither solicited money from witness Federico Barco nor requested a 10-hectare slice out of the 130-hectare agricultural land occupied by Mr. Barco in Arakan, North Cotabato fail to persuade," the Sandiganbayan ruled.