De Lima: DFA canceled Janet Napoles passport

 The Department of Foreign Affairs has canceled the passport of Janet Lim-Napoles, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said Saturday.

In a statement, De Lima said the DFA on Friday night canceled Napoles’ passport upon the request of the National Prosecution Service.

“DFA issued last night the corresponding Foreign Service Circular addressed to its Foreign Service Posts and Regional Consular Offices all over the country. The DFA also sent a letter to the Bureau of Immigration, regarding such cancellation of passport,” she added.

In early August, the Justice Department issued a lookout bulletin order against Napoles and her brother, Reynald Lim, in connection with the alleged P10-billion pork barrel scam, spanning 10 years.

Lawmakers’ Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), commonly known as pork barrel, had allegedly been funneled to JLN Corp. owned by Napoles and distributed the money to bogus non-government organizations.

For its part, DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez said the department received last Friday the DOJ’s request to revoke the passports of Napoles and her brother Reynald Lim – both implicated in the alleged illegal detention of the whistleblower in the supposed pork barrel anomaly.

The siblings went missing after arrest warrants were issued against them on Wednesday.

“On that basis and pursuant to Sec. 8.b.1 of the Passport Law, DFA issued a circular to all Foreign Service Posts and Regional Consular Offices and notified also Bureau of Immigration on cancellation of their passports last night,” Hernandez said in a text message to reporters.

Napoles’ cousin Benhur Luy (the whistleblower), accused her of moving huge sums from the PDAF or pork barrel of several lawmakers to her own accounts and the bank accounts of some legislators through various foundations.

Napoles has denied the accusation, saying her riches came from her trading company and a legitimate coal business in Indonesia.

Over 400 accounts

In the same statement, De Lima revealed that some 400 financial accounts of businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles will be covered by the Court of Appeal’s freeze order.

“CA's Freeze Order covers a total of about 415 accounts, broken down as follows: 344 bank accounts, 66 insurance policies and five possibly credit card accounts,” she said.

Out of the 415 accounts, 107 are in the name of Janet Lim-Napoles herself, a.k.a. Jannet Napoles-Lim or Jenny Lim, she noted saying these accounts were spread in 17 banking institutions and six insurance companies.

Last Friday, the CA froze the accounts of the embattled businesswoman, her family, and all non-government organizations connected with her and her business, JLN Corp. — Rouchelle R. Dinglasan  and Michaela del Callar /LBG, GMA News