PORK barrel queen and detained businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles on Monday accused Senator Leila de Lima of extorting money from her in exchange for not reopening the serious illegal detention case filed against her.
She said no illegal detention took place in 2013.
“It was a mere case of illegal detention as the [Department of Justice] already dismissed the case leveled against me,” Napoles said at the sidelines of her pre-trial Monday for the graft and plunder charges filed against her at the Sandiganbayan.
She said the alleged extortion happened in 2013 when De Lima was Justice secretary.
She did not elaborate on the circumstances behind the alleged extortion including the amount involved, but she said she was sure it was De Lima who was among who tried to ask money from her.
Napoles was convicted of illegally detaining whistleblower Benhur Luy who accused her of trying to prevent him from exposing the pork barrel scam.
The Justice department under De Lima’s tenure dismissed the serious illegal detention case filed against Napoles on June 10, 2013, citing a letter that Luy sent to his parents saying he was not taken against his will.
But the National Bureau of Investigation, which charged Napoles and her brother Reynaldo Lim for Luy’s alleged illegal detention, appealed the case before the Justice department.
The department under De Lima granted the motion and the charges were then filed before the Makati Regional Trial Court.
Solicitor General Jose Calida earlier filed a manifestation before the Court of Appeals clearing Napoles of serious illegal detention.
But Calida said his statement did not necessarily mean that the government had entered into a compromise with the Napoles camp.