Dummy NGOs have fake addresses, says NBI

National Bureau of Investigation agents have so far failed to track down officials of dummy nongovernment organizations (NGOs) allegedly used by Janet Lim-Napoles to defraud the government of P10 billion in ghost projects.

NBI spokesman Cecilio Zamora said Tuesday the addresses provided the Securities and Exchange Commission when the NGOs applied for registration were “manufactured or nonexistent.”

Zamora said agents who were tasked to issue subpoenas to the 20 NGOs identified by the whistle-blowers of the state funds scam failed to issue the invitations because “the addresses of the NGOs were fake.”

“It’s either the address is nonexistent or if the address is correct the occupants were different,” he said.

Zamora declined to disclose the addresses of the NGOs involved.

He said that the heads and incorporators of these NGOs would be asked to shed light on the alleged P10-billion racket involving at least five senators and 23 members of the House of Representatives who were said to have given access to Napoles to their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), or pork barrel.

Zamora explained that due to the nonexistent addresses, the NBI agents would have to track down the individual incorporators of the dummy NGOs.

A source in the NBI also said that fashion designer Eddie Baddeo had given a statement to the investigators on what he knew about the supposed illegal activities of Napoles, who has denied any wrongdoing.

The NBI is looking into allegations of the whistle-blowers, who are former employees of JLN Corp., owned by Napoles and her brother Reynald Lim, that the trading company had cheated the government of some P10 billion over the past 10 years by using these dummy NGOs.

JLN Corp. allegedly used funds from the pork barrel of lawmakers and various government agencies for scores of ghost projects.

These NGOs were supposedly the ultimate recipients of the state funds, but the money went to Napoles, according to the affidavits of the six whistle-blowers.