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Napoles daughter Jeane left PHL before US indictment — Guevarra


All but one of alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles' family members indicted by a United States grand jury for money laundering are still in the Philippines, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Friday.

Citing Immigration records, Guevarra told reporters that Napoles' daughter Jeane Catherine left the country on July 27, five days before the indictment was announced. Her destination is, at the moment, unknown.

The rest of Napoles' other children —Jo Christine and James Christopher, her brother Reynald Lim and his wife Ana Marie — are still in the Philippines, he said. 

"Should the US request their extradition, and they are not facing any court cases here, we will evaluate and commence the appropriate proceedings," the Justice chief said.

The Department of Justice, however, cannot restrain the travel of these persons of interest on account of a Supreme Court (SC) decision that struck down the Justice Secretary's authority to issue travel ban orders.

Because of this, Guevarra, who had raised "serious law enforcement concerns" as a consequence of the SC ruling, is leaving the Napoles family's capture to US authorities, whom he said could tap the Interpol for assistance.

"The US government can track them down anywhere," he said.

Asked what would be left of the Philippines' participation in the cases, he said local authorities will provide US prosecutors "all the evidence" available to them that may be needed for the cases abroad.

Two options for Napoles

Guevarra explained that Napoles herself, facing plunder charges at the Sandiganbayan, could either be held here until the pending cases have been terminated, or be temporarily surrendered to US authorities until the money laundering trial is completed.

"We shall evaluate these options once an actual request for extradition is made by the US government," he said.

Napoles is detained at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.

A US federal grand jury has found probable cause to press charges against Napoles and five of her family members for allegedly funneling some $20 million in Philippine public funds in and out of the US through a "multi-year bribery and fraud scheme."

The amount came from money converted from lawmakers' Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), the subject of a controversial scam that involved the diversion of billions of pesos of legislators' pork barrel to Napoles-owned non-government organizations for what turned out to be ghost projects.

The US Attorney's Office in California said the jury found that approximately $20 million of those funds were wired to Southern California bank accounts, where it was used to buy real estate, shares in two businesses, two Porsche Boxsters, and pay for the living expenses of Jeane, Reynald, and Ana, who lived in the US.

Some of the funds were disbursed to Jeane, who allegedly used the amount to "finance her lifestyle and open a fashion business."

The six were charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, domestic money laundering, and international money laundering. — RSJ, GMA News

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