The name “Napoles” has become synonymous with ill-gotten wealth, an intricate scheme involving the plunder of taxpayers’ money, and an opulent lifestyle flaunted on social media.
Janet Lim-Napoles is detained at the Correctional Institute for Women, but the people have yet to hear the entire story and separate the truth from politically-motivated accusations.
Some big names linked to the scam are also in jail, but it is believed Napoles knows a lot more than she is letting on about numerous politicians of diverse political colors.
This week, the US Department of Justice announced that a federal grand jury had indicted Janet Lim Napoles and members of her family—her three children Jo Christine, James Christopher and Jeane Catherine, her brother Reynaldo and his wife Ana Marie—for domestic and international money laundering, “quietly liquidating the assets in the United States.”
The Napoles family is accused of conspiring to transfer $20 million which she allegedly earned from the pork barrel scam which she is believed to have masterminded.
The US agency believes the funds were diverted to money remitters in the Philippines and then wired to bank accounts in Southern California. The money was then used to buy real estate, shares in two businesses, two Porsche Boxsters, and finance the living expenses of Jeane, Reynaldo and Ana.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra III and spokesman Harry Roque both welcomed the indictment. Guevarra said it paves the way for the return of the people’s money to the national treasury and that the Philippine government will continue to work with its US counterpart to build a strong case against the Napoleses.
He had earlier taken Napoles out of the Witness Protection Program.
Roque said this was a “positive development.”
Let the indictment serve as a lesson for the family members of all others conducting questionable business either in government, or with government. It may be too tempting to enjoy the finer things in life, if what is defined as “fine” pertains to material comforts that could not have been attained by pure, honest and hard work.
An unsullied name remains the most enviable, longest lasting, finest treasure of all.