Napoles pleads not guilty on plunder raps

MANILA, Philippines–Alleged pork scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles pleaded not guilty on Thursday during her arraignment for plunder charges at the antigraft court Sandiganbayan.

Her arraignment officially starts the trial on the country’s biggest corruption scandal so far under the Aquino administration, which involves the alleged pillaging of some P10 billion from lawmakers’ Priority Development Assistance (PDAF) funds.

Napoles is accused of conspiring with senators, congressmen and other public officials who got kickbacks of as high as 50 percent kickbacks in ghost projects of Napoles’ bogus nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs. The PDAF funds were meant to ease rural poverty.Also charged with plunder are Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada. Revilla and Estrada have both surrendered to the police after warrants for their arrest were issued.