Turning Napoles into state witness 'very dangerous, suspicious' –De Lima

Senator Leila De Lima on Friday expressed disapproval on the plan to turn businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles into a state witness for the reinvestigation of the controversial pork barrel scam.

"That's a very dangerous move. That's a very suspicious move," De Lima told reporters after the hearing on her disobedience to summons case at the Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 34.

"Kasi unang-una nga hindi siya pwedeng gawing state witness. Even the Ombudsman said that," she added.

Shortly after Napoles was acquitted from the serious illegal detention case involving her former aide Benhur Luy, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II met her lawyers to explore the possibility of using her as a state witness in the pork barrel scam case.

But for De Lima, Napoles is not reliable to become a state witness.

"Kasi kung qualified siya, dapat noon pa naging state witness na siya. She's not at all reliable," she said.

In a statement on Thursday, De Lima challenged Napoles to return the wealth she supposedly received from the alleged scheme.

“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,” De Lima said. —KBK, GMA News