Napoles’ children seek relief from pork barrel scam raps
Sandiganbayan building facade. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—The children of alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles filed a motion before the Sandiganbayan to defer the issuance of an arrest warrant and to dismiss the case for lack of merit.
In a 47-page motion filed on Monday, Jo Christine and James Napoles also sought to suspend the proceedings pending the resolution of their instant motion.
The accused said there was no probable cause for the issuance of an arrest warrant.
According to their motion, Jo Christine and James were neither officers nor members of any of the bogus foundations of their mother Janet Lim-Napoles.
There was also no proof that they signed documents related to pork barrel projects, their motion read.
“They were only dragged into this case by unfounded and sweeping verbal allegations made by the principal conspirators…” the motion read.
Jo Christine and James Christopher are co-accused in the graft charges for their alleged involvement in the pork barrel scam.
Facing plunder and graft raps are Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr.
The Ombudsman said it found probable cause to indict Revilla with one count of plunder and 16 counts of graft; Enrile with one count of plunder and 15 counts of graft; and Estrada with one count of plunder and 11 counts of graft.
Also charged was alleged mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.
The pork barrel scam is an elaborate scheme of allegedly diverting billions of Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) to ghost projects for kickbacks.
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