Supreme Court upholds PDAF raps vs Napoles nephew

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court (SC) has upheld the indictment of a nephew and co-accused of detained businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles in the plunder cases before the Sandiganbayan over the multibillion-peso Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam.

In an eight-page resolution released yesterday, the High Court dismissed for lack of merit the petition of Robert John Lim, also an employee of Napoles, seeking the reversal of the Office of the Ombudsman’s resolution that found probable cause in the plunder and graft charges against him.

The SC explained that the issues raised in Lim’s petition were already resolved in a similar petition filed by Richard Cambe, an aide of detained former senator Ramon Revilla Jr., who is also an accused in the PDAF cases.

“We recognize that the acts in Cambe, which related to the illegal pillaging of public funds sourced from the PDAF of… Revilla Jr. occurred within the same timeline as the acts in the present case,” read the ruling. 

The SC reiterated that “as correctly pointed out by the ombudsman,” whistle-blowers Benhur Luy and Merlina Suñas narrated that Lim was among Napoles’ employees who would prepare and deliver the kickbacks intended for Revilla.

The SC also said that Lim’s petition for review is premature since there are remedies before the Sandiganbayan that are still available to him.