Prosecution pushes for trial of Napoles’ kids

Government prosecutors on Wednesday insisted that the Sandiganbayan should push through with the trial of Jo Christine Napoles and James Christopher Napoles, children of alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles, for the graft charges filed against them.

In a three-page opposition paper submitted to the Sandiganbayan Third Division, the prosecution asked the court to deny the urgent motion for reconsideration filed by the Napoles siblings last week “for lack of merit.”

In their motion, Jo Christine and James Christopher asked the court to overturn its September 29 ruling finding probable cause to proceed with the cases against them.

The siblings also asked the court to hold their arraignment in abeyance pending the resolution of the motion.

Jo Christine and James Christopher are co-accused in the 15 counts of graft filed by the Office of the Ombudsman with the Third Division against Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce-Enrile in connection with the alleged multibillion-peso pork barrel scam.

According to the prosecution, the issues and arguments raised by the Napoles siblings in their motion were just reiteration of the issues already raised in their motion for judicial determination of probable cause, which the court has already denied on September 29.

“Besides, the arguments raised by both accused were matters already pertaining to their defense which are best ventilated during the trial on the merits of these cases,” the prosecution said.

In their urgent motion for reconsideration, Jo Christine and James Christopher said the court erred in its September 29 ruling, as the decision was allegedly based solely on the testimonies made by whistleblowers Benhur Luy, Merlina Suñas and Marina Sula, who were described in the motion as “polluted sources” given their participation in the scam.

The motion also said there was no evidence supporting the claims of the witnesses that Jo Christine and James Christopher were involved in forging of signatures and manufacturing of fraudulent documents for the transfer of the the Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) of Enrile to the fake non-government organizations (NGOs) associated with their mother.

The motion also said that there is no evidence proving the testimony of Sula that Enrile’s PDAF went to the accounts of Napoles’ JLN Corporation and Jo Chris Trading. The motion noted that Jo Chris Trading ceased operation in 1999, but the subject of the complaint was from 2004 to 2009.

The court gave the defense five days to comment on the prosecution's opposition, after which the resolution is deemed submitted for resolution.

The court had earlier announced that pending the resolution of the motion, the arraignment of the Napoles siblings are temporarily deferred. —KBK, GMA News