Napoles camp to file charges vs 3 Sandiganbayan justices

The camp of Janet Lim Napoles on Saturday said they would file charges against three justices of the anti-graft court after they "haphazardly" convicted Napoles of graft and malversation in connection with the P10-billion pork barrel scam.

Rony Garay, Napoles’ lawyer, said they were preparing appropriate charges against Justice Geraldine Faith Econg, Justice Reynaldo dela Cruz, and Justice Edgardgo Caldona “for gross ignorance of the law, manifest partiality, and extreme bias.”

In a 103-page decision, the Sandiganbyan on Friday ruled that Napoles, former Cagayan de Oro representative Constantino Jaraula and three others had pocketed P19.2 million from a lawmaker's pork barrel budget and were thus guilty of three counts of graft and three counts of malversation.

According to Napoles, however, the justices were predisposed "to convict her without looking at the evidence.”

She said this led to her being convicted of direct bribery, a crime she was not accused of in the charge sheet.

Meanwhile, Garay said the Sandiganbayan removed Napoles’ name by calling it a “typographical error” in the amended resolution.

“The original decision which they later had been amended had been clearly hurried and handed down haphazardly and without a sober consideration of the pending motions of Ms. Napoles,” Garay said in a statement.

The lawyer also said the anti-graft court failed to consider his motion to reopen the case because the evidence used by the prosecution was “inadmissible” due to a violation of the Cybercrime Law.

The main whistleblower in the P10-billion pork barrel scam was Napoles’ distant relative Benhur Luy, who testified that he negotiated deals with Jaraula.

Napoles was also found guilty of illegally detaining Luy in 2015.

She is currently held in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City. — DVM, GMA News