De Lima: Loren not in NBI probe
MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Loren Legarda is not covered by the probe of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) into a businesswoman suspected of defrauding the government of billions of pesos in ghost projects, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima clarified yesterday.
De Lima said she could not recall any affidavit from any of the witnesses that implicated Legarda in the supposed P10-billion scam.
Malacañang also said accounts from alleged witnesses did not indicate Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa’s complicity in the case.
De Lima, however, confirmed that the names of some lawmakers and officials were mentioned by some of the whistleblowers who had tagged Janet Lim Napoles of the JLN Group of Companies as the alleged brains behind the anomaly. De Lima declined to name the lawmakers and officials.
“Whether or not lawmakers are or will be part of the NBI probe will depend on results of the evaluation of the evidence,” she said in a text message.
The justice secretary issued the clarification in response to media reports on the affidavit of Merlina Pablo Sunas, one of the six supposed whistleblowers in the scam.
Sunas claimed in her affidavit submitted to the NBI that a certain “Ma’am Maya” served as JLN’s “coordinator for senators Legarda and (Ferdinand) Marcos (Jr.).”
But Sunas did not specify if the offices of the two senators were also victims in the scam.
She also said in her affidavit that Napoles put up bogus foundations to receive government funds that she allegedly transmitted to her many bank accounts.
Criminally liable
In a statement, Legarda said people linking her to the alleged scam could be held criminally liable for spreading malicious and false information.
Legarda maintained that she does not know Napoles or any of the individuals affiliated with JLN.
“I do not know any of these and have never dealt with them. Any person outside of my office who claims to be handling my projects is unauthorized and indulging in malicious and vicious imputations and should be held criminally liable,” she said.
She said she keeps track of her Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) disbursements through her office’s own audit. “We continually conduct due diligence as we always do in the monitoring of all our projects,” Legarda said.
Marcos also denied knowing Napoles.
“I have never spoken to her or even met her and so I had no personal dealings with her,” he said.
In Candaba, Pampanga, Mayor Rene Maglanque also denied knowing and much less doing business with Napoles, even if she had been an invited guest to his oath-taking at the St. Andrew’s Parish Church last June 30.
A municipal-sponsored tarpaulin welcoming Napoles and her family has since been pulled down.
He said his oath taking was a public affair and that it was Napoles’ son James who had been originally invited.
“But James asked that his family be allowed to come, so we made a tarpaulin for them,” Maglanque said.
He said other guests had been accorded the same treatment.
Meanwhile, Malacañang said Ochoa’s former law office’s being mentioned in reports does not mean he is being linked to the scam. – With Marvin Sy, Aurea Calica, Ric Sapnu
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