Perjury raps vs Luy junked

MANILA, Philippines - The Manila prosecutor’s office has dismissed the perjury case Janet Lim-Napoles filed against Benhur Luy and five others.

Cleared with Luy were his mother Gertrudes; father Arturo; siblings Arthur and Annabel, and fellow whistle-blower Merlina Suñas.

“The evidence of complainant is insufficient to establish probable cause for the offense charged,” read the 11-page resolution of Assistant City Prosecutor Philger Noel Inovejas.

Napoles accused them of concocting stories that she and her brother had illegally detained Luy after finding out that he had used her name to apply for a bank loan.

Napoles and her brother Reynald Lim said Luy “voluntarily committed himself in solitude for retreat” at the Bahay ni San Jose in Makati for three months.

The Lim siblings submitted the affidavits of several priests who accompanied Luy in the retreat house. They said the respondents “asserted falsehood” when they claimed that Luy and Suñas were employees of Napoles’ JLN Group of Companies because no such company exists.

The affidavits of the priests proved that Luy had been confined at the retreat house at the instance of Reynald Lim,  he added.

Inovejas said Napoles had failed to dispute Luy’s allegations that she was involved in the illegal disposition of government funds.