Napoles jewelry may be covered by court’s freeze order

Alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles at a press conference before her arrest.

MANILA — Once found by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), the alleged jewelry collection of Janet Lim-Napoles may also be covered by the court’s freeze order, a report citing Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said.

De Lima also added in the same report that AMLC will continue tracking the collection of the alleged mastermind of the pork barrel scam.

“It’s always part of the ongoing fact-finding [investigation]. Lalo na at yung AMLC, ang alam ko, ay they (Specially that AMLC) continue to discharge also their tasks with respect to this,” De Lima said.

An order was declared by the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 22, last April placing Napoles’ real estate properties and bank accounts under an asset preservation order (APO).

AMLC said in a memorandum that, because Napoles could not provide an evidence that would prove that her assets were obtained through legitimate means, the court should not grant Napoles’ petition for recall of the APO.

“The assertion that the subject assets were acquired through legitimate means and before the material dates of the Pork Barrel Scam must fail for utter lack of evidentiary support,” the AMLC said in its memorandum submitted to the court last Monday.

Photos of the said jewelry collection owned by the alleged pork barrel queen were first shown by one of Napoles’ former aides to GMA News.

However, Napoles’ lawyer, Bruce Rivera has earlier denied these allegations saying that his client does not own an expensive jewelry collection.

With reports from GMA News