Palace: DOJ open to Napoles’ transfer to regular jail

Janet Lim-Napoles being escort‎ed by personnel of Regional Public Safety Battalion Region 4A Calabarzon and Special Action Forces. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Justice (DOJ) is open to the possibility that alleged pork barrel scam brains Janet Lim-Napoles will be transferred to a regular jail, despite the justice secretary’s claims that she is not keen with  the set-up, a Malacañang spokesman said Friday.

“They are studying (that possibility)… At least, the DOJ now is open to the possibility that in the foreseeable future, the court may order Napoles’ transfer,” Valte said in Filipino at a televised press briefing on Friday.

Despite the Palace’s statement, Justice Secretary Leila De Lima said she was not keen in transferring Napoles to a regular jail. The businesswoman is detained at Fort Sto. Domingo in Laguna over illegal detention charges.

“(The transfer of Napoles) needs to be studied for its repercussions because until now Mrs. Napoles is not yet talking and there might be a chance that she would talk and that singular opportunity may be put to waste if that central figure on the issue wants to talk,” De Lima said in a Philippine Daily Inquirer report on Tuesday.

“If she is transferred to a less secure area, we might just blow that chance. How can she talk if something happens, so it’s not easy,” De Lima added.

Napoles is the alleged brains behind the elaborate pork barrel scam, a billion-peso racket involving the funnelling of lawmakers’ discretionary funds to ghost projects for kickbacks. She faces plunder charges with lawmakers and government officials over the scam.

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