THE Supreme Court has upheld the resolution of the Office of the Ombudsman finding probable cause to again indict Janet Lim Napoles and several other people for graft in connection with the misuse of the lawmakers’ pork barrel funds.
The high court denied the petitions filed by Napoles, the consolidated petitions filed by Napoles, her employee John Raymund de Asis and former National Agri-Business Corp. president Allan Javellana, and the consolidated petitions filed by former director-general of Training and Research Center Antonio Ortiz and Javellana assailing their indictment by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales for their involvement in the anomalous disbursements of the Priority Development Assistance Fund.
“In all three items, the Court found no grave abuse of discretion on the part of the Ombudsman in finding probable cause to indict petitioners,” high court spokesman Theodore Te said.
“The Court deferred to the findings of the Ombudsman in the absence of grave abuse of discretion.”
In the first case, Napoles questioned the Sept. 6, 2014 joint resolution and Nov. 26, 2014 joint order by the Ombudsman that found probable cause to charge her with three counts of graft, misuse of public funds and corruption of public officers.
The charges were made in connection with the anomalous disbursements of the pork barrel funds of former congressman Constantino Jaraula for 2004-2007.
In the case of Napoles, De Asis and Javellana, the Court dismissed their consolidated petitions seeking the reversal of the Ombudsman’s joint resolutions that found probable cause to indict them for graft, misuse of public funds and the corruption of public officers.
The charges were in connection with the anomalous disbursements of the pork barrel of former Benguet Rep. Samuel Dangwa for 2004 to 2007 amounting to P54 million.
In the case of Ortiz and Javellana, the high court denied their consolidated petitions assailing the resolutions issued by the Ombudsman that found probable cause to charge them with graft in connection with the disbursements of the pork barrel of accused Senators Ramon Revilla Jr., Jinggoy Estrada and Juan Ponce Enrile for the years 2006 to 2010.