THE prosecution did not have the evidence or witnesses to prove Senator Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada received kickbacks from Janet Lim Napoles or whistleblower Benhur Luy, according to the senator’s lawyer.
Associate Justice Ronald Jurado, chairman of the anti-graft court’s Fifth Division, interjected during the oral argument of Director Ma. Cristina Marallag Batacan if they could present evidence that Estrada personally received over P50 million from Napoles.
The prosecution, however, said it was socialite Ruby Tuason who delivered the P19-million kickback to Estrada.
Jurado gave the prosecution and defense panel 45 minutes each to present their oral arguments, but the former rested its case in the bail petition of Estrada.
Batacan in her power point presentation reiterated that the evidence and witnesses (27 in all) are enough to prove that Estrada and his former chief of staff, Pauline Labayen, conspired with Napoles to misallocate his PDAF to her foundations in exchange for kickbacks.
Some of the prosecution’s pieces of evidence, such as endorsement letters of Estrada personally choosing Napoles’ foundations, to be the beneficiaries of his pork barrel fund, a Commission on Audit special report, an Anti-Money Laundering Council report on the bank transactions of Estrada and a daily disbursement report of Luy, were presented.
The prosecution asserted that the testimonies of the witnesses would substantiate that it was Napoles who actually owned and controlled the NGOs, where a portion of Estrada’s PDAF was allocated.
When asked by Jurado if there was any other evidence or witness to strengthen that Estrada directly received P50 million in commission, the prosecution did not give a clear answer.
Lanee David, counsel of Napoles, in her oral argument, said the prosecution failed to prove that Estrada, Napoles and Labayen conspired with one another despite the previous presentation of 27 witnesses during almost two years of the bail hearing.
She said the prosecution also failed to prove Estrada amassed P183, 753, 750 million in kickbacks.
David said the prosecution failed to prove that Estrada accumulated the P50 million threshold for plunder since according to Luy it was Labayen, former actor Matt Ranillo, Tuason and one Juan Ng who received the P183 million, and not Estrada.
“He did not see Tuason gave the money to Estrada and there was no bank transfer and check issued to Estrada,” she added.
In 2001, Estrada was granted a bail for the plunder filed against him and his father.
“Yes, I was granted bail [in 2001] because there was no strong evidence presented against me. And I think this will be a repeat performance [by the Sandiganbayan],” he said.
“There is no strong evidence against me, its all hearsay. So I am really praying that I will be able to spend Christmas outside of my detention cell and to be with my family,” he added.
Estrada is facing plunder and 11 counts of graft charges before the Fifth Division in connection with the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam.
He is accused of amassing P183.793 million worth of kickbacks for allocating his pork barrel fund to the Napoles-linked foundations.