There’s no evidence against me–Jinggoy Estrada

By: Norman Bordadora - 10 years ago

Sen. Jinggoy Estrada: No evidence. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—There is no evidence that he received millions of pesos in kickbacks from Janet Lim-Napoles, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada said in a 26-page motion for reconsideration he submitted to the Ombudsman.

Estrada submitted his motion almost a week after the Ombudsman announced that it found probable cause to charge him, Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile and Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. with plunder in connection with the P10-billion pork barrel scam.

“There is nothing on record which established that Senator Estrada received kickbacks of ‘around 50 percent of the PDAF amount involved.’ Benhur Luy and other witnesses never claimed to have personally handled and/or witnessed the delivery of ‘around 50 percent of the PDAF amount involved’ to Senator Estrada,” the document read.

The motion said that Luy’s ledger didn’t indicate that money was delivered to Estrada. It added that the purported ledger will not even support the alleged scheme or modus of giving 50-percent kickbacks to legislators.

Estrada, in his motion, maintained that the evidence on record fails to establish probable cause to indict him for plunder and for violation of the Anti-Graft Law.