EDITORIAL - Justice versus Janet… in the US

The wheels of justice as usual continue to move at snail’s pace in the effort to make businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles account for her involvement in the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam.

Now Filipinos are hoping that Napoles might yet face her day of reckoning in the near future – although not in her own country. Yesterday the Department of Justice in the United States announced that Napoles and five of her relatives had been indicted by a federal grand jury for domestic and international money laundering as well as conspiracy to transfer to the US $20 million she allegedly made from the scam.

A statement from the US Attorney’s Office in California said a probe conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation uncovered evidence that Napoles, her children Jo Christine, James Christopher and Jeane Catherine along with her brother Reynald Luy Lim and his wife Ana Marie conspired to wire the $20 million to several US bank accounts.

The funds were allegedly used to buy real estate property, two Porsche Boxsters and shares in two businesses. Living expenses in the US of Jeane, Reynald and his wife were also drawn from the $20 million, according to the US Attorney’s Office.

The US government has also seized about $12.5 million worth of real estate from the Napoles family. The US Attorney’s Office said that once the civil forfeiture case is completed, the assets could be turned over to the Philippines.

Napoles still faces three plunder cases in the Philippines in connection with the pork barrel scam and may not be extradited to face trial in the US. But Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the Philippine government is working with US authorities to extradite any of Napoles’ relatives who have been indicted.

Jeane Napoles had earlier been cleared of a tax evasion case by the Philippines’ Court of Tax Appeals. She was charged for failure to pay taxes for a farm in Bayambang, Pangasinan and a posh apartment in Los Angeles, California.

Filipinos expect that she will find it harder to get off the hook in the US. And Filipinos can only wish that justice could be just as potent in the Philippines.