De Lima dares Napoles to return ‘ill-gotten’ wealth from ‘pork barrel’ scam

Senator Leila de Lima on Thursday challenged alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles to return the wealth she has allegedly acquired from supposed deals with lawmakers linked to the multi-billion priority development assistance fund (PDAF) scandal.

“Mr. [Vitaliano] Aguirre is making a tempting offer for Napoles that is too hard to resist, that is to tell everything she knows against the expanded list of suspects in the pork barrel fund scam in exchange of her security, survival or political concessions,” De Lima said in a statement.

“If this government really sees her as a credible state witness because it thinks she is a ‘minimal player’ in the multi-billion pork barrel fund scandal, I challenge Napoles to return the wealth she has acquired from all her illegal transactions,” she said.

De Lima cited news reports saying Napoles has been claiming that she inherited from her parents and a profitable coal mining business to account for her own and her family’s wealth.

She said Napoles and her family are known to reside in houses and condominiums in at least seven posh locations, and reportedly own properties in the United States amounting to P495.1 million.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II met with the camp of Napoles last week to explore the possibility of her turning into a state witness in the PDAF scam.

De Lima reiterated that the Duterte administration may just be using Napoles to get even with its critics and opponents.

“This government is using Napoles to blackmail and bully its critics and opponents.  It will stop at nothing unless it can silence its dissenters and have their merry way of plunging our country into disaster,” she said.

De Lima, a staunch critic of President Rodrigo Duterte, is presently detained at the PNP Custodial Center for her alleged involvement in the proliferation of drugs inside the national penitentiary when she was Justice secretary. 

It was during De Lima’s tenure as DOJ chief that charges were filed against Napoles and several lawmakers in connection with the pork barrel scam. — Kathrina Charmaine Alvarez/RSJ, GMA News