Alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles’ motion to contest the sufficiency of evidence against her as co-accused in plunder case of detained former Senator Ramon ‘‘Bong’’ Revilla Jr. was blocked by government prosecutors.
In a 14-page comment, the prosecution asked the Sandiganbayan First Division to junk the motion for leave to file demurrer to evidence of Napoles, saying it is premature for the anti-graft court to grant the motion when there is sufficient proof against the accused.
“Given the sufficiency of the testimonial and documentary evidence against all the accused, it would, therefore, be premature at this stage of the proceedings to conclude that the prosecution’s evidence failed to establish their participation in the alleged conspiracy to commit the crime,” the prosecution said.
In her motion, Napoles said the plunder law prosecutes a public officer and not a private individual like her. Napoles is accused of amassing ill-gotten wealth worth at least P50 million from the scam.
Napoles added that there was no evidence from the prosecution showing who served as the main plunderer, or the principal person who benefited in the amassing of ill-gotten wealth in the scam.
But the prosecution said Napoles was charged of plunder since she allegedly acting in conspiracy with Revilla for kickbacks after channeling his PDAF allocations to bogus non-government organizations.
The prosecution also emphasized that it was able to present sufficient evidence against Revilla’s former staff, lawyer Richard Cambe, who had argued that there was no proof that he acted in conspiracy with Napoles and Revilla that would constitute plunder.
The prosecution said scam whistle-blowers Benhur Luy, Marina Sula, and Merlina Sunas have all successfully testified against the three co-accused.
The witnesses said Revilla conspired with Napoles for kickbacks totaling P224.5 million from 2007 to 2009, while Cambe received the commissions on behalf of the former lawmaker on several occasions.
“All gave consistent, corroborative and uninhibited testimony that in exchange for his repeated endorsements of Napoles’ NGOs as project partners in the implementation of his identified PDAF projects, Revilla repeatedly received commissions,” the comment read.
“They likewise testified that they have seen, delivered and known Cambe to receive commissions from Luy and/or Napoles for PDAF transactions,” it added.
The prosecution added that they have presented the supposed beneficiaries of the bogus projects to testify that they never received the intented purpose of Revilla’s pork barrel, or Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
The prosecution pinned the blame for the multi-million-peso scheme on Napoles, Revilla, and Cambe, saying they are all liable for plunder even if the detained businesswoman facilitated a large share of PDAF for her own benefit.
“This does not in any way imply that she alone must bear liability for this illegal activity. Just like Napoles, Revilla and Cambe also received their fair share of the loot. Since their conspiracy yielded benefits for all those involved, not just Napoles, the law will hold all of them liable as such,” the prosecution said.
Revilla had submitted his own motion for leave to file demurrer to evidence on November 28. The Sandiganbayan gave the prosecution until December 3 to comment on the matter.
The Sandiganbayan set the oral arguments on all motions on December 7.