Washington asked to freeze Napoles assets in US, says source

MANILA—The Philippines has formally asked the US government to freeze the assets of Janet Napoles in the United States, a source privy to the request told the Inquirer.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Department of Justice officials recently went to the US embassy to formally submit and discuss the request

“The Philippine government requested that properties acquired by JLN and her family be frozen pending resolution of the cases filed against them,’’ the source said.

He added that “the request was done due to the time element of the proceedings and because plunder has a civil aspect of forfeiture if illegally obtained wealth is proven.’’

The US property forms part of Napoles’ many real estate assets, estimated to be worth at least P5 billion on the basis of records Napoles’ book keeper submitted to the DOJ.

“The forfeiture proceedings have a time element, that’s why all identified assets here and abroad should be frozen pending the resolution of the case,’’ the source explained. “The freezing of the assets is to ensure that the stolen money can be returned to the National Treasury in the event that the properties are proved to have been illegaly acquired.”

The source added that the request was anchored on the plunder charges filed against Napoles at the Office of the Ombudsman for preliminary investigation to determine if enough eveidence exists to warrant filing them in court.

“These cases will then be filed before the Sandiganbayan where criminal trial and forfeiture proceedings will begin,’’ the source said.

The Napoles US properties identified in the request included the following:

•   The Anaheim Express Inn, registered under Western Investment Corp. with address at 620 W Orangewood Avenue, Anaheim, California. The company is allegedly owned by Napoles’ brother Reynald Lim, and children James Christopher and Jo Christine .

•   No. 32 Wedgewood, Canyon View in Irvine, California, also registered under Lim and his wife Ana Marie Dulguime.

•   A two-bedroom apartment in the Ritz Carlton at 900 Olympic Boulevard in  Los Angeles, California, registered under the name of another daughter, Catherine Jeane.

•   Covina County Commercial Property in West Covina, Califnornia, registered under the Western Ventures management Inc. 19545 E. Cienega Avenue. The company’s two other addresses were Covina CA 91724 and 620 W. Orangewood Ave. Anaheim CA 92802. Listed as officers in the company were Lim and two older children of Napoles.

The source said that US legal procedures would be followed in the forfeiture proceedings under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty.

Napoles has been accused of pocketing billions of pesos in taxpayers’ money  in connivance with lawmakers and other individuals.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Palace leaves Napoles issue up to senators

MANILA, Philippines—Malacañang on Sunday said it would steer clear of the Senate caucus called to decide whether or not to subpoena businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles to its inquiry into the P10-billion pork barrel scam.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said it was the senators’ call whether or not to compel Napoles to appear at the blue ribbon committee inquiry.

With Napoles expressing reservations and, at the same time, willingness to cooperate with authorities, the senators would be in the best position to decide on the matter, Valte said.

“It is a matter that is completely under their province,” she said over government-run dzRB radio.

Senate President Franklin Drilon had earlier said that the senators would meet in caucus on Monday to tackle the touchy issue of summoning Napoles to the blue ribbon committee hearing.

Napoles is accused of operating a scheme where some legislators’ pork barrel are funnelled to fake nongovernment organizations, after which the legislators and Napoles allegedly split the cash. At least five senators and over 30 House members have been implicated in the multibillion peso scam.

Congress resumes sessions Monday after a two-week recess.

After advising the Senate committee against compelling Napoles to testify, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales said she was deferring to the senators’ “collective wisdom” to decide the matter. After this, Drilon said he would call a caucus on the matter.

Morales, in a Sept. 27 letter to Drilon, said she was standing by her earlier opinion that it wasn’t advisable for Napoles to appear at the Senate inquiry ahead of the hearing of the plunder complaint against her.


‘Senate is supreme’
But Morales said she recognized the Senate’s authority, and deferred to the senators to decide.

“That the Senate is supreme in its own sphere was never meant to be challenged. I thus submit to the collective wisdom of its members,” she said in a letter to Drilon.

When the blue ribbon committee resumed its inquiry in late September, committee chair Sen. Teofisto Guingona III castigated Justice Secretary Leila de Lima for not bringing in the whistle-blowers. De Lima answered that their appearance would telegraph the prosecutors’ punches in the plunder complaint against Napoles.

However, when Guingona issued a subpoena for them to appear at the next hearing, De Lima complied.

For the same hearing, Guingona also forwarded a subpoena for Napoles to Drilon for his signature, but the latter declined to sign it. He said the Ombudsman had advised him not to bring Napoles to the Senate inquiry.

Morales had asserted that the publicity that would be set off by Napoles’ testimony would affect the public interest and prejudice the safety of the witnesses and the disposition of the cases against her (Napoles).

The National Bureau of Investigation has filed the first set of complaints against Napoles, three senators and 34 others in connection with the alleged scam.

Guingona said Drilon was wrong to seek the Ombudsman’s opinion on the matter, insisting that the power of the Senate was supreme.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

2 Napoles children liable in Malampaya Fund scam

The alleged looting of P900 million from the Malampaya Fund, which was officially meant to help victims of massive flooding in Luzon four years ago, appeared to be a “family business.”

A daughter and son of detained businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles forged the signatures of the supposed beneficiaries of the fund, according to a whistle-blower.

One of Napoles’ brothers and a nephew also served as presidents of two of the 12 dubious nongovernment organizations (NGOs) that were used to allegedly steal all the P900 million.

Levito Baligod, lawyer of witnesses in the P10-billion pork barrel scam allegedly masterminded by Napoles, said he would file an amendment to the plunder charges filed by the National Bureau of Investigation in the Office of the Ombudsman to include Jo Christine and James Christopher Napoles.

Jo Christine and James Christopher were called “Neneng” and “Butsoy,” respectively, by their mother’s employees.

Baligod said the two would be included in the plunder case for “direct involvement in the falsification and liquidation of documents” involving the P900 million from the Malampaya Fund that was coursed through the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).

The money was earmarked for agrarian reform beneficiaries who were adversely affected by the back-to-back Tropical Storms “Ondoy” and “Pepeng” in 2009, but the P900 million ended up in dubious NGOs that Napoles had formed.

According to Baligod, the two Napoles siblings would join their mother Janet, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, three of her Cabinet secretaries—former Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, former Budget Secretary and now Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya, and former Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman—in the case that the NBI filed in the Office of the Ombudsman on Oct. 3 against 24 people.

Baligod said the father of the siblings, retired Marine Maj. Jaime “Jimmy” Napoles, would not be included in the case because the testimony and evidence did not show his direct involvement in the scam.

Baligod, lawyer of pork scam whistle-blowers led by Benhur Luy and Merlina Suñas, said the former Reform the Armed Forces Movement officer was seen only as “enjoying the luxuries.”

The Inquirer on Sunday called up Lorna Kapunan, lawyer of Napoles, to get her side but got no reply as of press time.

Youngest child

In his affidavit, Luy said Janet’s youngest child, Jeane, was just a recipient of her mother’s earnings as she was studying in the United States.

Luy claimed that Janet was a heavy buyer of dollars in the black market. “She uses these dollars to pay for taxes or buy properties abroad. These dollars are also used by Jeane Napoles and (Janet’s brother) Reynald Lim who are residing abroad,” he said.

Suñas, who started working for Janet’s trading firm, Jo Chris Trading, after her retirement from Philippine Navy Naval Construction Corp. in 2000, said she was entrusted by Janet to handle the documentation and liquidation of DAR documents for the Malampaya Fund at a meeting of JLN employees in July 2009.

The meeting was held three months before Arroyo and Ermita sent orders for the release of the P900 million to help farmer-beneficiaries recover from their losses from Ondoy and Pepeng.

Also at meeting

Suñas said Jo Christine and James Christopher were present at the meeting in which their mother and her employees plotted how to profit from the P900 million earmarked for the DAR.

Aside from their mother and her JLN employees, the siblings took part in forging the signatures of the supposed beneficiaries of the Malampaya Fund, according to Suñas.

“Truth be told, those that we could not finish signing in the JLN Corp. office were brought by Madame Janet Napoles to her house where they continued the signing of the documents along with the house help, drivers and security [guards],” the whistle-blower said.

Suñas said Jo Christine and James Christopher had helped in faking the documents as the siblings were top officers of JLN Corp. Jo Christine was vice president for administration and finance of JLN Corp. while her brother was vice president for operations.

The siblings held office on the 25th floor of Discovery Center in Pasig City.

Suñas said Jaime served only as “consultant” at JLN Corp. although Luy claimed that the former military officer had often served as his wife’s driver.

Brothers, nephew

Suñas said Napoles also tapped her brothers Reynald Lim and Ronald Francisco Lim, and a nephew, Ronald John Lim Jr., as officers of JLN. Ronald Francisco was vice president for special projects and Reynald was in charge of information technology.

Ronald Francisco and John Ronald who were among those charged with plunder last week, served as presidents of two of the dubious NGOs that were used in allegedly stealing all the P900 million.

Luy claimed that Jo Christine had also received part of the funds remitted to the dubious NGOs whenever her mother was not at their home on the 18th floor of the north wing of the Pacific Plaza Tower in Taguig City.

Luy said Jo Christine and James Christopher were aware of the code names given by Napoles to lawmakers whom she had regularly dealt with.

“Tanda” was Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile; “Pogi” was Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.; “Sexy,” “anak” or “kuya” referred to Sen. Jinggoy Estrada.

Other codes

“Guerrera” was former Rep. Rizalina Seachon-Lanete (now Masbate governor); “Bonjing” was former Agusan del Sur Rep. Rodolfo Plaza; “Bulaklak” was former Benguet Rep. Samuel Dangwa; “Suha” was former South Cotabato Rep. Arthur Pingoy; and “Kuryente” was former Apec Rep. Edgar Valdez.

Suñas said that apart from the beneficiaries, the signatures of 97 town mayors in Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog and Bicol regions, and the Cordillera Administrative Region (the areas pummeled by Ondoy and Pepeng) were also forged.

“JLN Corp. had on file the previous requests for financial assistance with the Department of Agriculture and we copied their signatures (from these documents) in the (97) letter requests (addressed to Pangandaman) and MOA (or memoranda of agreement given to DAR),” Suñas said.

Luy noted that the P900 million from the Malampaya Fund was the second time Janet raided DAR funds.

In 2007, Janet’s NGOs took P200 million from DAR funds intended for land reform beneficiaries.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Janet Lim Napoles’ brother relieved by sister’s surrender

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — Janet Lim Napoles’ elder brother Ronald Lim said he was surprised at her surrender but he had heaved a sigh of relief because his sister’s life as a fugitive was over.

“We didn’t know her plans because we lost communication since she went into hiding, we just learned about it when someone called us up that she had surrendered,” Lim told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

He said Napoles’ surrender would also do her good because she has been suffering from an illness, which he did not specify.

Lim said the surrender would also give Napoles a chance to face the allegations against her and that the family was hoping she would be given fair treatment.

“What they have been saying against her were not true,” he said.

Asked what could have prompted her sister to yield, Lim said he had suspected that his arrest by agents of the police’s Criminal Detection and Investigation Group on Sunday at the Bonifacio Global City was the main reason.

Lim was mistaken for his younger brother, Reynald.

He said Napoles’ arrest also proved that she did not flee, contrary to reports that she went on frenzy purchase of airline tickets.

“The truth is one of my nephews used her credit card to buy the tickets,” Lim said.

A whistleblower in the pork barrel scam said she was worrying about Napoles’ surrender as this could lead to something bad, especially for the witnesses.

She described the Napoles family as moneyed and influential.

“Janet Lim Napoles is a fugitive from justice and she was met by Mr. Aquino and escorted to Camp Crame, but the Sultan, Sultan Jamalul Kiram, a law abiding citizen who wished to see the President purposely to seek justice was refused audience. What kind of justice is prevailing in the country today?” Habib Hashim Mudjahab, chair of the Moro National Liberation Front’s Islamic Command Council, asked.

Militant youth group Anakbayan said Napoles’ surrender “seems like a poorly-written, telenovela inspired script.”

Anakbayan said this was obviously meant to boost Aquino and Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas’ sagging popularity.

“We should not be surprised if Napoles’ scripted surrender results in whitewash of the evidence against administration allies implicated in the pork barrel scam,” the group said in an emailed statement.

Anakbayan said Napoles’ surrender would not deter it from continuing with its protests – similar to the one scheduled in Metro Manila today – over corruption in government.

“We will not be fooled by lies, spins and teledrama scripts,” Anakbayan said.

In Davao City, Juland Suazo, spokesperson of the environmentalist group Panalidpan-Southern Mindanao, said the surrender was an “ex-deal” between Napoles and the Aquino government.

“The surrender was an ex-deal. Napoles surrendered to Aquino then Aquino surrendered to Napoles. The ultimate objective is to dispel the public anger and to keep the pork barrel system intact,” Suazo said.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) said Napoles’ surrender was “expected…because Pnoy and his cohorts who cannot give up their pork barrel stand to gain more from the media blitz.”

“But then, the stink is overflowing to the rim, the recent stunt put up by the supporters of Pnoy is simply overrated,” Benjie Valbuena, ACT president, said.

Bayan Muna Representative Carlos Zarate said Napoles’ surrender “may lead to a political witchhunt aimed against the opposition.”

“There is a perception now that this latest incident on the Napoles saga will be followed by a ‘political witch hunt,’with Napoles as the main weapon, against members of the opposition and other personalities not aligned with the interest of the Aquino administration,” Zarate said in a statement.

Zarate also said Napoles’ surrender to Aquino, himself, showed the extent of her influence in the government.

“That Janet Napoles personally “surrendered” to President Aquino, with whom she had also complained through a letter of alleged NBI harassments months ago, only confirmed the extent of her influence and wide connection, in and out of the government,” he said.

Zarate said with questions surrounding the surrender, the pork barrel scam might be whitewashed.

“More than ever, the people must be vigilant against the possible whitewashing of this multibillion-peso scandal, particularly, by sparing those individuals associated with the administration,” he said.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net