Sandigan asks for extension in resolving Napoles bail plea

THE Sandiganbayan has asked the Supreme Court for an extension to resolve the bail petition of accused pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.

In an interview with reporters Wednesday, Third Division Clerk of Court Atty. Dennis Pulma said the court wrote to the high court to ask for an extension until Sept. 30 from Wednesday to resolve Napoles’ bail petition in the plunder case of Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, who was granted bail by the Supreme Court.

The antigraft court submitted for resolution Napoles’ petition on Monday after the prosecution finished its presentation of witnesses who tagged Napoles as the mastermind of the purported scheme of diverting lawmakers’ Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) to ghost projects for kickbacks.

Pulma said under the rules, a court is given 48 hours after conclusion of the bail hearing to resolve the petition.

The clerk of court said the justices asked for an extension because of the voluminous documents of evidence presented against Napoles, who is now serving life sentence after being convicted of serious illegal detention of pork scam witness Benhur Luy.

“In this regard, the Third Division asked for additional 10 working days starting from today until Sept. 30, 2015. This is considering the voluminous records or evidence presented by the parties, the number of witnesses who testified and also the length of testimonies of the said witnesses,” Pulma said.

“This is why the Third Division wrote a letter to the Supreme Court en banc through the Chief Justice for additional 10 working days from today up to Sept. 30,” he added.

Napoles is a co-accused for the plunder cases of Senators Ramon Revilla Jr., Jinggoy Estrada, Juan Ponce Enrile, and former representatives Rizalina Lanete and Edgar Valdez, as well as the malversation cases of former representatives Constantino Jaraula, Samuel Dangwa and Rodolfo Plaza.

Her bail petition in the Revilla case was denied by the First Division on December 2014. Meanwhile, the bail petitions of Napoles and Estrada are still pending in the Fifth Division.

She stands accused of plunder, graft and malversation over the pork barrel scam.