Even if she tags new names in PDAF scam, Napoles still ‘most guilty,’ says Pimentel
The Department of Justice (DOJ) may allow businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles to spill the beans on who else benefitted from the R10-billion pork barrel scam, but she cannot be declared a state witness.
Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel, Jr. said this as he maintained that Napoles is the “most guilty” in the controversy over the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), or pork barrel.
Pimentel earlier described as “crazy” the certification of the DOJ to place under the provisional coverage of its Witness Protection Program (WPP) Napoles, who faces multiple plunder and graft charges before the Sandiganbayan. On Saturday, Pimentel took exception to DOJ Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre’s statements Saturday, saying Napoles had a “tutor” behind the alleged misuse of the PDAF, which he said will be considered whether or not to fully admit her into the WPP.
“Lumalabas na merong tutor itong si Janet Lim Napoles. Hindi ko po masasagot kung bakit hindi pa niya 'yan pinangalanan. Diyan natin malalaman kung qualified siya under WPP, titingnan kung may justification (It appears Janet Lim Napoles is being tutored. I’ve no answer why she has not named who it is. That’s how we’ll know if she’s qualified to be under the WPP; we’ll see if it’s justified),” Aguirre was quoted as saying in an interview over DWIZ.
“Para ika'y maging state witness under WPP, dapat you should not appear to be the most guilty, maaaring one of the most guilty siya, pero hindi ka dapat ang most guilty. So kung mapapatunayan natin na ang isang witness ay maraming kapantay na guilty katulad halimbawa ng mga government official, 'yan po ay may posibilidad na siya ay maging state witness,” he added.
But Pimentel, in a separate interview Saturday afternoon, negated Aguirre as he recalled the Senate investigation in 2013 which found Napoles as the mastermind of the alleged misuse of the multi-billion peso PDAF which involved some lawmakers and their staff, private individuals and nongovernment organizations.
“Hindi siya ang most guilty, anong klase naman yan (How come she is not the most guilty? How can that be?),” said Pimentel “Sino ang paulit-ulit na pangalan ang lumabas? Sino ang nagbuo ng foundation (Whose names have repeatedly surfaced in the investigation? Who created the foundation used to obtain pork barrel allocations),” he added.
“Ikaw yung nagbuo ng scheme, tas ikaw ngayon ang kakanta laban sa mga nakinabang (You orchestrated the scheme and now you will witness against those who benefitted)?”