Reinvestigation of Lim, others to proceed–DOJ

Cebu businessman Peter Lim, who was named by his kumpadre (wedding cosponsor), President Duterte, as the biggest drug kingpin in the Visayas region, will have to face prosecution again.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Friday threw out for lack of merit Lim’s motion questioning the reinvestigation by the Department of the Justice (DOJ) of the drug charges brought against him, confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa and several other drug suspects.

Lim had claimed that his right to due process was violated when then Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II issued an order on March 19 discarding the December 2017 resolution of a panel of DOJ prosecutors that exonerated the Cebu businessman and his fellow respondents.

Guevarra dispelled Lim’s insinuation that the public indignation triggered by the dismissal of the case had prompted Aguirre to create a new panel of state prosecutors to handle the reinvestigation. —MARLON RAMOS