Janet asks SC anew to grant bail

The alleged mastermind of the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam Janet Lim-Napoles has again asked the Supreme Court (SC) to grant her bail for her plunder case since the evidence against her is weak and defective.

In her 20-page supplemental petition for certiorari filed before the SC on Feb. 13, Napoles said the Sandiganbayan First Division erred in its December 2014 ruling denying her petition for bail.

The SC had earlier junked Napoles’ petition for bail as a co-accused in the plunder case of former senator Juan Ponce Enrile in connection with the pork barrel scam.

Napoles is facing plunder charges before the Sandiganbayan First Division as a co-accused of former senator Ramon Revilla Jr., also for the same scam.

She cited the SC’s July 2016 decision on the plunder case of former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in connection with the alleged misuse of the P366-million intelligence fund of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

In its July 2016 ruling, the SC reversed the Sandiganbayan First Division’s decision and granted Arroyo’s demurrer to evidence which prayed for dismissal of the case on the ground of the prosecution’s failure to identify the main plunderer.

Napoles said that just like in the Arroyo case, the ombudsman’s prosecution team failed to identify in the charge sheet who among her, Revilla and lawyer Richard Cambe is the main plunderer in the case.