Whistleblowers in the pork barrel controversy trooped to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) office in Manila Wednesday afternoon to submit evidence of plunder against businesswoman Janet Napoles and several lawmakers including senators.
The documentary and testimonial pieces of evidence contained in 17 boxes unloaded from a car were submitted to the bureau at around 4 p.m. by six of the 11 whistleblowers led by their counsel Levito Baligod. These will be used by the NBI, the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Office of Ombudsman in filing plunder and malversation charges against Napoles and the legislators.
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| The boxes of evidence submitted by the whistleblowers in the pork barrel scam to the NBI office in Manila, Wednesday, September 11, 2013. |
The submission of the evidence, the first of three batches, was postponed at least twice because the whistleblowers wanted to make sure that their affidavits would help the DOJ build up airtight cases against Napoles and her alleged cohorts.
"It took us sometime to finish everything because we want to make sure that our evidence will stand the scrutiny of the judge," Baligod said.
"We are not here just to ruin the reputation of anybody because for all of us, our reputation is the most precious thing that we have. More precious than the wealth that this world can offer...That's why we are very careful once we accuse somebody, we have a solid case to stand on," the lawyer added.
Why Napoles could be charged with plunder
Earlier, DOJ Secretary Leila de Lima was quoted in news reports as saying that a private individual such as Napoles could be charged with plunder if he or she is accused of committing the crime in collusion with public officers.
“Plunder is the target, and it cannot involve just a private individual. There should be public officers. That’s one of the elements of plunder,” De Lima said.
“Whether or not there are private individuals who are co-conspirators or co-principals, a private individual can be charged with plunder. But it cannot be by his or her lone self,” the DOJ chief added.
President Benigno Aquino on Tuesday told reporters "there is a possibility" that the plunder charges against Napoles would be filed on Friday.
But De Lima on Wednesday said it would be difficult to file a plunder case this week.
The DOJ chief said the NBI and the lawyer of the whistleblowers were still completing the documentary evidence against Napoles and the others who will be in the first batch of respondents.
Baligod earlier told InterAksyon.com that, "We are optimistic that the affidavits will help the DOJ and the Ombudsman build up and strengthen cases against the accused."
He added that his camp was hopeful that lawmakers found guilty of plunder or malversation charges "will be detained" for their misdeeds within Aquino's term.
The affidavits allege, among others, that Napoles and the lawmakers skimmed off millions of pesos in public funds through a scheme involving bogus projects by non-government organizations purportedly fabricated by Napoles.
Baligod declined to identify the lawmakers named in the affidavits on Wednesday and said that it would be up to the DOJ to identify the lawmakers accused in the affidavits.
The submission of the sworn statements to the DOJ has been delayed since some of the whistleblowers were trapped in Zamboanga City, said Baligod. Heavy fighting between rebels and government troops have led to class suspensions and flight cancellations to and from Manila and Zamboanga.
Three batches
The first of three batches of affidavits alleges that at least five legislators pocketed anywhere from P54 million to P200 million through a scheme involving fake projects implemented by the NGOs.
Five "subordinates" or "agents" of legislators who allegedly received money from Napoles on behalf of the lawmakers are also named in the first set of affidavits, according to Baligod.
Baligod said the second batch of affidavits would accuse at least 10 more lawmakers of malversation of funds, while the third batch would charge an indefinite number of lawmakers of the same wrongdoing. He said his camp's target would be to complete the submission of all affidavits by end of September.
The first batch of affidavits will include a matrix of the alleged financial transactions between Napoles' purported foundations and the lawmakers. Baligod said the matrix was based on the Excel spreadsheet files kept by main witness and former Napoles employee, Benhur Luy, in his external hard drive.
Luy's spreadsheets were based on Napoles and the NGOs or foundations' alleged transactions with the lawmakers from 2004 to 2010 recorded through cash vouchers, which had three copies - the white voucher allegedly kept by the businesswoman, the pink kept by Benhur, and the yellow issued to the "customer or client."
The matrix contains the following pieces of information:
- Name of the lawmakers
- The projects of the allegedly non-existent NGOs funded through the lawmakers' PDAF
- Alleged commission or kickbacks received by the lawmakers
- Details of the Department of Budget and Management-issued special allotment release orders charged against the lawmakers' PDAF allocations
- The recipients of the alleged kickbacks
- When and where the alleged kickbacks were received by the lawmakers
- How the alleged kickbacks were received (through bank transfers, issuance of checks, or personal delivery of cash)
The affidavits are backed up by documents relating to fund transfers and letters to banks "authorizing the branch to debit the account of a foundation and credit it to the account of the legislator," according to Baligod.
He said the details on the bank transactions and issuance of checks could be validated by comparing them to records being kept by the Anti-Money Laundering Council.
Kickbacks through banks, checks, cash
Baligod said there were congressmen named in the affidavits who had allegedly received kickbacks through checks and bank transactions while all accused senators allegedly pocketed kickbacks through personal delivery of cash.
He said some congressmen accused in the affidavits had their names written on the checks and bank accounts. "Oo, pangalan n'ya 'yong tseke, pati bank account pangalan ng legislator."
"May dalawang legislators na tumanggap ng tseke. Then merong I think five legialators ang nagbank-to-bank, 'yong iba, cash na," the lawyer said.
"So isipin mo, ang [think of the] paper trail, there was a letter coming from the foundation, authorizing the branch manager of that bank to debit the account of the foundation and credit it to the account of Mr. X, the lawmaker, doon sa account number na ito [in this account number]," added Baligod.
"Ang medyo wais 'yong cash lang ang tinatanggap [The wiser were those who received cash]," said Baligod.
