Solon indicted for plunder over pork kickbacks
MANILA, Philippines—A party-list lawmaker has been indicted for plunder in the Sandiganbayan for supposedly pocketing nearly P57.8 million in kickbacks from the pork barrel scam allegedly drawn up by detained businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.
APEC party-list Rep. Edgar Valdez was also charged with seven counts of violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for the alleged misuse of P95 million of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allotments from 2007 to 2009.
Also charged with plunder and graft were Napoles and her former driver John Raymond de Asis.
Valdez was the eighth lawmaker facing criminal charges for allegedly funneling his party-list group’s PDAF allocations to the spurious nongovernment organizations (NGOs) purportedly founded by Napoles.
In a joint resolution it issued on Oct. 14, the Office of the Ombudsman said Valdez provided funds to “ghost” projects implemented by three Napoles-linked foundations.
Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales said the party-list representative “showed a pattern —a combination or a series of overt or criminal acts—directed towards a common purpose or goal which is to enable him to amass, accumulate or acquire ill-gotten wealth.”
“During the term of Valdez, he continuously endorsed the implementation of his PDAF-funded livelihood and agricultural projects to Napoles-controlled NGOs,” Morales said in a statement.
“The PDAF of Valdez was never used for the intended projects as these were considered ‘ghost projects, with fabricated documents submitted for its liquidation. The mayors and municipal agriculturists reported that they never received anything from the office of Valdez or from any of the project partners,” she added.
The antigraft body said the supposed beneficiaries of the projects financed by Valdez’s pork barrel “were neither residents nor registered voters of the municipalities.”
Napoles called Valdez, who supposedly represented the group of electric cooperatives, by his code name “Kuryente,” according to whistle-blowers Marina Sula and Merlina Suñas.
Citing the sworn affidavit of primary whistle-blower Benhur Luy, the Ombudsman said Valdez earned a total of P57,787,500 in kickbacks from 2004 to 2010, “with the payoffs usually made” at the office of the Napoles-owned JLN Corp. in Ortigas, Pasig City.
Also charged with seven counts of graft were Budget Undersecretary Mario Relampagos, members of his staff Rosario Nuñez, Lalaine Paule and Marilou Bare, and other government officials and private individuals.
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