Manila, Oct. 22 -- The Office of the Ombudsman on Wednesday ordered the preventive suspension of Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Undersecretary for E-Government David L. Almirol Jr. for alleged conflict of interest involving PHP1.55-billion government contracts.

In a seven-page order, the Office of the Ombudsman found sufficient grounds to place Almirol under preventive suspension for six months without pay pending the resolution of administrative complaints of grave misconduct, conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service and violation of Republic Act (RA) 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

The complaints stemmed from a report by the DICT Inter...