SUSPECTED pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles will file a plunder complaint next week against former Budget secretary Florencio Abad and Senators Franklin Drilon, Antonio Trillanes IV and Leila de Lima, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguire II said Monday.
Aguirre said Napoles’ lawyer, Stephen David, said his client was preparing a statement detailing the participation of Abad, Drilon, Trillanes and De Lima in the pork barrel scam.
Drilon and Trillanes denied the allegations, while De Lima described the action as a witch hunt.
Aguirre said David mentioned other people who might be included in the complaint, but did not identify them.
“We, here at the Department of Justice, we will just wait to what they are going to file and then we will investigate,” Aguirre said.
“I was told that Janet would like to make a statement only out of her personal knowledge. Janet herself will detail how each of them was involved,” Aguirre added.
Part of Napoles’ sworn statement alleges that a high Cabinet official in the Aquino administration claimed the P10-million reward for Napoles’ arrest.
Napoles herself is facing a plunder complaint for her alleged role in the pork barrel scam. Also charged were former senators Jinggoy Estrada, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Juan Ponce Enrile.
Enrile was allowed by the Supreme Court to post bail for his temporary liberty citing humanitarian reasons while Estrada and Revilla remain in detention at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame.
Early this month, the Court of Appeals acquitted Napoles in the illegal detention case filed by pork barrel scam whistleblower Benhur Luy before the Makati regional trial court.
However, she remains in detention since she is still facing plunder, graft and malversation charges before the Sandiganbayan.
If the DoJ finds probable cause to indict the officials for plunder after preliminary investigation, Aguirre said its findings would be forwarded to the Office of the Ombudsman, which has primary jurisdiction of cases involving government officials.
Drilon branded as a “blatant lie” any allegation that he misused public funds or that he coursed it through Napoles or any bogus non-government organization.
He called the allegation “outright black propaganda and political harassment” intended to silence members of the opposition.
“Who are the targers of the administration: Former President Benigno Aquino, former Budget secretary Florencio Abad, Senator Sonny Trillanes, detained Senator Leila De Lima, and myself,” Drilon said. “If this is not revenge, I don’t know what is.”
Trillanes said he was never even mentioned in any of Napoles’ lists which were provided at the height of the pork barrel scam investigations in 2013.
A staunch critic of the President, Trillanes accused Aguirre of using his office to persecute and harass members of the opposition by fabricating testimonies from dubious convicts or detainees such as the Bilibid drug lords, Kerwin Espinosa and now Napoles.
“I categorically deny any involvement in any irregularity regarding PDAF, DAP or any government funds, for that matter,” said Trillanes.
De Lima earlier said that the Duterte administration will likely enter a deal with Napoles to “blackmail and threaten” the President’s political foes.
Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, who was appointed by President Aquino, said although the Justice department can conduct its own investigation, her office is not bound by its findings.