Cebu biz man declines drug test NBI sought
Cebu biz man declines drug test NBI sought
CEBUANO businessman Peter Lim has declined a request of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for him to undergo a drug test, the agency said.
According to NBI spokesperson Ferdinand Lavin, Lim’s lawyer Ramon Esguerra told the NBI that he had advised his client to refuse the request.
Lavin said in a phone interview with Sun.Star Network Exchange that he has yet to clarify if the response was a final refusal or if Lim’s camp just wants the test done some other time.
Lavin added that the NBI cannot compel Lim to undergo a drug test.
Sun.Star Cebu called Lim’s spokesperson, Dioscoro Fuentes Jr., but he said he was no longer authorized to discuss the issue. He also said that he was not privy to the investigation.
According to Lavin, the NBI does not know yet when Lim will return to the agency to submit the additional documents the NBI asked for.
When asked what those documents were, Lavin said: “I cannot disclose, but these documents are related to his businesses.”
Lavin said that the NBI does not have a deadline in establishing whether or not the Cebu-based businessman was the Peter Lim that President Rodrigo earlier alleged was part of a drug trafficking group.
But he stressed that the agency is prioritizing Lim’s case.
“Interesado ang Presidente dito (President Duterte is interested in this),” he said.
Last Thursday, Lim appeared at the NBI as recommended by the president.
The agency then created a fact-finding team to probe Lim’s alleged involvement in illegal drugs and asked the businessman to submit additional documents.
NBI anti-illegal drugs task force chief Atty. Juan Roel Bolivar, head of the fact-finding team, is determining if Lim was really the drug lord “Jaguar” whom President Duterte identified as one of the members of the drug triad operating in the country.
If the fact-finding team establishes that Lim is a drug lord, the NBI will file a case against him before the Department of Justice. Lim recently went to Davao to tell President Duterte that he had nothing to do with narcotics. (Sunnex)