Napoles brod on Interpol ‘red’ list

The fugitive brother of pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles will be placed on the Interpol red notice list after being convicted in the serious illegal detention case involving principal scam whistleblower Benhur Luy.

The National Bureau of Investigation-Interpol has received information that Reynald Lim, Napoles’ brother, is no longer in the country, head agent Daniel Daganzo said.

Lim, who also uses the alias Reynaldo Francisco, was convicted and sentenced by the Makati City Regional Trial Court to reclusion perpetua, or a jail term of up to 40 years.

The government has offered a P5-million bounty for Lim, who remains at large and was never arraigned.

“Lim will be in the red notice list of the Interpol as soon as all the necessary documents are obtained and processed,” Daganzo said.

A person included in the Interpol red notice list can be arrested by any foreign law enforcement agency depending on what country he is found.

Daganzo said that by placing Lim in the Interpol list, other member countries could help in finding him. He explained the process would involve requesting the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime (PCTC) to ask the main Interpol office in France to have the fugitive placed on the list.

Levito Baligod, Luy’s former lawyer who is also a private complainant in the P10-billion pork barrel scam case against Napoles and others, has asked the government to demand the immediate repatriation of Lim.

Lim was identified by the US Department of Justice as the administrator of the United States properties of Napoles, allegedly derived from the fruits of the pork barrel scam.

The US justice department has filed a civil forfeiture complaint with a Los Angeles Federal District Court to gain control of Napoles’ assets in the United States, which is estimated to be worth $12.5 million.

Based on the information filed by the US justice department, Lim holds both US and Philippine passports and operates under the alias Reynaldo Francisco while his wife, Ana Marie, uses the alias Ana Marie B. Dulguime.

The couple were convicted by the Sandiganbayan in 2010 for falsification of public documents in a separate case involving the delivery of fake Kevlar helmets to the Philippine Marines, but did not serve jail time.

According to the US justice department complaint, Lim was listed as the registered agent and chief financial officer for Western Ventures Management and Western Investment, the Napoles family companies that purchased and owned the Anaheim Motel and the Covina Real Property.

The complaint also stated that Lim, despite living in California in 2006, had zero wages for 2005 or 2006, based on the records of the California Employment Development Department.