MANILA: The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is set to conclude its initial fact-finding probe on the pork barrel scam with the filing today of a plunder complaint against Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the multibillion racket, and her cohorts before the Office of the Ombudsman.
This developed as Justice Secretary Leila de Lima has stood firm on her position that there is no politics involved in the NBI probe, which reportedly found liability of several opposition senators.
Earlier reports said that opposition Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr. would be included in the charge sheet.
But De Lima refused to confirm this as the NBI team was still finalising the complaint and the documents supporting the affidavit of whistleblower Benhur Luy.
She only said that the plunder charges — the first of several sets of cases — would be “against Napoles and her cohorts, including lawmakers who knowingly transacted with her and her bogus non-government organisations and benefited from those transactions through commissions or cash advances from Napoles amounting to at least P50m.”
“Executive officials/personnel who connived with Napoles and/or who facilitated the Napoles transactions or schemes will also be included,” she added.
De Lima also said that the inclusion of all respondents in the case is based on evidence.
“President Aquino’s clear instruction from the start is to file strong cases, meaning backed up with sufficient evidence. So the only benchmark is evidence or sufficient evidence. Political colour is never a consideration,” she said in a text message.
“There were no sacred cows in the probe. There was no whitewash,” she added.
The Philippine Star
