Admin allies implicated in Napoles affidavit—lawyer

By: 11 years ago

Janet Lim-Napoles. Inset Atty. Bruce Rivera lawyer of Janet Lim-Napoles. INQUIRER.net and INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS

MANILA, Philippines – The lawyer of Janet Lim-Napoles said the affidavit of the alleged pork barrel scam brains would include allies of the Aquino administration.

Atty. Bruce Rivera, Napoles’ counsel, made the statement in an Inquirer Radio 990AM report when asked if he is confident Justice Secretary Leila De Lima would not spare administration allies.

“I told her the concern that definitely, [the affidavit contains the names of] administration allies…,” Rivera said in Filipino during the interview.

“In fact, we have been telling her it would be both sides,” he added.

Rivera added that he is confident De Lima would not “sanitize” Napoles’ affidavit on the pork scam.

Detained businesswoman Napoles was accused of masterminding the billion pesos pork barrel racket of diverting lawmakers’ discretionary funds to Napoles’ bogus organizations. The funds would be converted to ghost projects and would be split as kickbacks among Napoles, lawmakers and government officials.

Napoles had expressed intention to testify about the scam though the justice department has yet to commit to make her state witness.

The opposition has been accusing the administration of using the scam to clamp down on the other camp while sparing their allies.

Napoles, in a five-hour dialogue with De Lima early this month, pinned down Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr. as she vowed to come clean on the scam.

12 senators implicated

Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery Panfilo Lacson, who was given a copy of an unsigned affidavit of Napoles by her family, later said at least 12 senators were implicated by Napoles in the racket.

Both affidavits given to De Lima and Lacson would be evaluated by the Department of Justice in view of Napoles’ application to turn state witness, Malacañang said.

Sen. Grace Poe agreed that the chamber would face more rough times with the fresh allegations hanging over their heads.

“Absolutely. But the recovery process begins when we purge ourselves if the facts are proven irrefutable,” she said in a text message.

While the process would be “very difficult,” it’s an “opportunity for us to better ourselves and restore the confidence of the public,” she added.

Whether the allegations had basis or not, these would be damaging to the Senate as an institution, said Sen. Vicente Sotto III.

He said that Lacson’s disclosure on the involvement of more senators has made everyone in the Senate suspect.

Without any evidence, Sotto said the proper time to disclose the names of the alleged scamming lawmakers would be the Ombudsman filing the charges against them with the Sandiganbayan.

“The trouble is, one is tried by publicity even before an investigation is made,” he said in a phone interview. “That opens a window for everybody else just to name anyone.”