Kapunan denies law firm pressured to drop Napoles as client

Atty. Lorna Kapunan INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Lawyer Lorna Kapunan on Wednesday clarified that she only withdrew as legal counsel to Janet Lim-Napoles’ serious illegal detention case but will still monitor issues surrounding the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

“The client’s decision is that since Atty. (Freddie) Villamor handled the case during its investigation stage, he will continue (handling it). So on our part, we will withdraw,” Kapunan said in a radio interview.

The lawyer denied claims that her law firm was pressured to drop Napoles as a client.

“I think the people who know us, who know the reputation of our law firm would know that pressure has never been a factor in our deciding on whether we will continue with a case. We have so many controversial cases,” she said.

The lawyer said their withdrawal should not be seen as an indication of the case’s lack of merit.

Kapunan said they went to the Makati Regional Trial Court on Monday morning to inform Judge Elmo Alameda of the decision

“With respect to the court who expected us to handle the cross examination today, we went to the court – not in open session but in chambers – to inform the judge that Atty. Villamor will take over the case,” she said.

Kapunan, during the radio interview, said she was on her way to Fort Sto. Domingo in Laguna where Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the “pork barrel scam,” was being detained.

“We need to talk about that and the pending investigation on plunder. She has so many lawyers…The reason why we weren’t able to talk about it was because her focus was on the bail hearing…We can move on to discuss how she wants all of us lawyers to proceed with her many cases,” she said.

Kapunan said Napoles’ tax lawyers were handling the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s findings on tax evasion.

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