Bong Revilla seeks records of Senate inquiry into pork scam

Senator Bong Revilla. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

DETAINED Sen. Bong Revilla Monday asked the Sandiganbayan to order several government offices to produce certain documents in preparation for his plunder trial in connection with the P10-billion pork barrel scam.

In a five-page motion filed by his lawyers, Revilla asked the antigraft court’s First Division to summon the Senate blue ribbon committee to submit the transcripts of the public inquiry it conducted on the alleged misuse of the lawmakers’ pork barrel, officially known as the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

Revilla also wanted the Bureau of Immigration to present the travel records of the principal pork scam whistle-blower, Benhur Luy, from August to December 2008.

He said Luy’s immigration records would show that the witness was actually outside the country on the dates that he supposedly personally delivered Revilla’s kickbacks from the PDAF scam in October 2008.

“This claim would be properly clarified by the travel records of Luy… and will support Senator Revilla’s defense,” said Revilla’s motion.

“Considering the grave nature of the charges against him, Senator Revilla believes that these records and reports are relevant to his defense and he needs to examine them in order to have them marked in evidence in these cases and properly prepare for his defense during trial,” it added.

The senator also requested the court to subpoena the case file of the forfeiture case filed by the government in a Manila Regional Trial Court against Luy and his former employer, suspected pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.

The case filed by the Anti-Money Laundering Council against Luy, Napoles and several other individuals “will show Luy’s ill-gotten wealth,” according to Revilla.

In addition, Revilla asked the court to direct the Commission on Audit to show the results of its regular audit of Technology Resource Center, National Livelihood Development Corp. and National Agribusiness Corp. from 2006 to 2010.

The three state-owned firms were allegedly used as conduits to funnel billions of pesos in public funds intended to help poor farmers into the fake foundations set up by Napoles.

Along with his bosom buddy and fellow actor-politician, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, Revilla has been detained at Camp Crame since June 2013 after he was indicted for plunder and graft for allegedly pocketing P224 million of his PDAF, an accusation he had vehemently denied.