De Lima handed DoJ subpoenas
SENATOR Leila M. de Lima is due to formally receive the four complaints filed against her by various individuals and organizations next month at the Department of Justice (DoJ).
In a statement, her office reported that it has received the four subpoena orders regarding complaints and other supporting evidence filed by the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC)a, former National Bureau of Investigation officials Reynaldo O. Esmeralda and Ruel M. Lasa, high-profile inmate Jaybee M. Sebastian, and the National Bureau of Investigation.
The VACC last month filed a case against Ms. de Lima for her alleged involvement in the drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison during her term as justice secretary.
The group then filed another complaint calling for her disbarment as a lawyer for gross immorality.
Messrs. Esmeralda and Lasala filed their complaints last month claiming she used her position as justice secretary to run the narcotics trade inside the national penitentiary.
The two former NBI officials were relieved by Ms. De Lima in 2014 due to their alleged links with Janet L. Lim Napoles, the alleged mastermind in the pork barrel scandal of 2013.
Sebastian, represented by his wife Roxanne B. Sebastian, filed a complaint for graft and corruption, torture and indirect bribery early this month.
Ms. de Lima has previously stated that she expected Sebastian, who she claimed was her government asset inside the national penitentiary, would be forced to file a case against her.
Sebastian was injured on Sept. 28 during a stabbing incident at the Bilibid, amid a congressional inquiry about the drug trade in the national penitentiary.
The NBI, for its part, filed drug trafficking, bribery and graft charges against the senator and 17 other individuals allegedly involved in the narcotics trade.
“The Senator’s legal team is prepared to secure all these official copies of the complaints and their corresponding evidence,” her office said in the statement.
Ms. de Lima, by herself or through a representative, is ordered to receive copies of these complaints on December 2 at the Department of Justice’s Executive Lounge.