MANILA, Philippines - The alleged brains of the pork barrel scam, Janet Lim Napoles, gave millions of pesos in kickbacks to lawmakers two ways: by depositing money in designated bank accounts of congressmen or issuing manager's checks to them; or giving cash to senators or their staff, who disdained any other form of payment, the main government witness told the Senate on Thursday.
Appearing at the blue ribbon committee's third hearing into the P10-billion scam involving Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), whistleblower Ben Hur Luy said it was usually Napoles herself who would personally get the cash from her staff at JLN Corp. and then meet with a lawmaker, if cash is the preferred mode of transaction. Asked what his evidence was about this, Luy said he faithfully kept ledgers detailing, daily, all money flows involving his boss and second cousin, Napoles.
In transactions where the lawmaker assigned a bank account number or accepted a manager's check, Luy said he has submitted all the bank transaction documents for these to the National Bureau of Investigation.
Luy leads a cast of six whistleblowers with knowledge of the web of alleged corruption maintained by the JLN group for years, mainly by using PDAF of lawmakers to fund pre-identified projects supposedly carried out by JLN-created bogus NGOs, sometimes with connivance of government line agencies.
Luy wasn't categorical in saying whether or not they paid off people in the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), which played a crucial role in the network because its release of the SAROs was the trigger for Napoles' advancing half of the lawmakers' rebate.
Luy acknowledged that through the years, they would call up "contacts" in the DBM.
Once implementing agencies alert them of checks being available for project payment, the funds they withdrew from the banks, said Luy, would either be withdrawn and credited in various accounts of Ms. Napoles, or withdrawn as cash and brought to their office at Discovery Suites or Napoles' home at Pacific Plaza condominium.
The cash would be placed in bags and kept in the master's bedroom, or usually, in the bath tub, with corresponding tags to reflect their amount, said Luy.
