‘I did not commit any crime,’ Enrile said as he pleads not guilty on graft

Video by INQUIRER.net’s Ryan Leagogo

MANILA, Philippines—“I did not commit any crime,” Senator Juan Ponce Enrile on Friday told the Sandiganbayan third division as he pleaded not guilty to 15 counts of graft and corruption.

Like Enrile, Janet Lim-Napoles also pleaded not guilty while Enrile’s forme chief of staff Atty. Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes refused to enter a plea.

“I plead not guilty, your honors. I did not commit any crime,” Enrile told the anti-graft court third division.

Enrile and Reyes were ordered to sit beside each other by Associate Justice Samuel Martires.

The justice urged the two to sit down as Reyes suffers from panic attacks while Enrile is frail due to old age. The two were blocked from view from a wall of lawyers and other co-accused

Senator Juan Ponce Enrile. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Enrile and Reyes engaged in small talk while they sat beside each other.

At one point, Reyes brought out her towel and wiped her eyes and face as she talked with Enrile.

The two were close when they worked together in the Senate. They were once rumored to be having an affair.

Napoles was also ordered to sit down as she had undergone an operation a few months back.

They are co-accused in the plunder and graft charges over the pork barrel scam, the alleged diversion of public funds to ghost projects for kickbacks.

Enrile is in the Philippine National Police General Hospital under police custody. He is suffering from hypertension and arrhythmia.

Meanwhile, both Reyes and Napoles are detained at a regular jain in the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology female dormitory in Camp Bagong Diwa.

Reyes is also asking the court medical attention as she claimed to be suffering from mixed anxiety disorder.

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