Atty. Lorna Kapunan INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged brains behind the P10-billion pork barrel scam, lost her star lawyer on Wednesday.
Dissatisfaction and meddling by other lawyers also hired by Napoles as consultants reportedly led lawyer Lorna Kapunan to quit as her lead counsel in the serious illegal detention case brought against Napoles by her former employee Benhur Luy and in the plunder suit brought against her, three senators and more than 30 other people in the pork barrel scam.
“Many other lawyers were meddling, apart from her disagreement with another Napoles lawyer, Freddie Villamor, over the handling of the illegal detention case,” a source close to Kapunan told the Inquirer.
The Inquirer tried to contact Villamor for comment but he did not respond to this paper’s calls.
In a text message to the Inquirer, Kapunan said her withdrawal from the serious illegal detention case had the “conformé of Ms. Napoles.”
She said Villamor would continue handling the case, as it was he who handled it in the Prosecutor’s Office and who was familiar with Luy and Napoles.
The source, who spoke on condition of anomymity, said Kapunan had informed Judge Elmo Alameda of Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 150 about her decision to withdraw from the serious illegal detention case.
“She had informed the judge, but her client (Napoles) has yet to sign a paper for the court to recognize the withdrawal,” the source said.
Plunder case as well
Another source told the Inquirer that Kapunan had withdrawn as lawyer in the plunder cases even before she informed the Makati court about her withdrawal from the serious illegal detention case.
Napoles is facing two plunder cases in the Office of the Ombudsman.
One is for the P10-billion pork barrel scam and the other is for the alleged misuse of P900 million in Malampaya gas funds.
At the Makati court Wednesday, members of Alameda’s staff said Kapunan and her team arrived at 9 a.m. Kapunan then asked for a piece of paper.
Kapunan wrote something on the paper and asked a staff member to hand it to Alameda.
“Judge (Alameda) left the session to speak to Kapunan. Then, it was followed by a brief meeting of the prosecutor with Kapunan in the judge’s [chamber],” said a court employee who asked not to be identified because she was not authorized to speak to reporters.
He didn’t know?
When repeatedly asked about the withdrawal of Kapunan, Villamor kept saying, “I don’t know.”
Villamor was also mum on whether he was aware of Kapunan’s plan to withdraw from the case.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the court had yet to receive a motion for withdrawal from Kapunan and her law firm, Clerk of Court Diosfa Valencia said.
In a radio interview later in the afternoon, Kapunan denied resigning as a counsel for Napoles, but said her law firm was withdrawing from the serious illegal detention case.
“That (report) is not accurate. For the continuation of the bail hearing, the client (Napoles) decided Attorney Villamor should handle it since he was the lawyer while it was still in the [Department of Justice],” Kapunan said.
She said she and her team paid a courtesy call on Alameda to let him know that they would no longer be able to handle the case.
“But we still need the conformity of our client,” she said.
State prosecutors said Kapunan’s withdrawal would have no significant impact on the proceedings.
SEE ALSO:
Kapunan withdraws as Napoles counsel
Kapunan still Napoles’ lawyer until she files resignation—Makati RTC
Kapunan denies law firm pressured to drop Napoles as client