DOJ terminates hearing on Peter Lim case
MANILA - The Department of Justice (DOJ) has submitted for resolution the drug-related complaint filed against alleged Cebu-based drug lord Peter Lim.
Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera said the panel of prosecutors has terminated the preliminary investigation on the complaint for violation of Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, filed against Lim, Kerwin Espinosa and several others sometime in June.
"We already granted the motion for separate PI (preliminary investigation) filed by Peter Lim. His case is already submitted for resolution," Navera said.
The DOJ panel prosecutors led by Navera has earlier granted Lim's appeal for a separate conduct of a preliminary investigation.
In his motion, Lim argued that "the obvious lack of evidence against him might not be given due attention in view of the number of respondents and transactions involved" in the case.
According to Navera, Lim has failed to attend both the scheduled preliminary investigation on his case and submit a counter-affidavit. Instead, he adopted the counter-affidavit he filed before the first panel of investigating prosecutors last year.
Lim's lawyer, Magilyn Loja, cited security reasons for Lim's repeated failure to attend the preliminary investigation on his case.
The first panel of prosecutors, which conducted series of preliminary investigation on the case of Lim and several others last year, decided to dismiss the drug raps against all the respondents in a decision dated December 20 for lack of evidence.
The said decision, which did not sit well with President Rodrigo Duterte given his campaign against illegal drugs, prompted the DOJ to order a reinvestigation with a new panel of prosecutors.
According to Navera, the resolution into the drugrelated complaints filed by the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group will be released "as soon as it is ready."
Lim is accused of conspiring to trade illegal drugs with the Espinosa group in Eastern and Central Visayas.
He repeatedly denied this accusation and said he is not the "Jaguar" being referred to as the drug lord of Visayas.