Napoles’ children file motion to defer arrest warrants and dismissal of the case

Napoles family at daughter Jeane’s (orange dress) birthday party.

MANILA — Now its Janet Lim-Napoles children’s turn to file a motion before the Sandiganbayan to defer the issuance of an arrest warrant and to dismiss the case for lack of merit.

On Monday, Jo Christine and James Napoles filed a 47-page motion before the Sandiganbayan aiming to suspend the proceedings pending the resolution of their instant motion.

Respondents on the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam insist in their motion that there is no probable cause for the issuance of an arrest warrant.

The two Napoles children, Jo Christine and James,claimed that they are not officers nor members of any of the bogus foundations of their mother Janet Lim-Napoles.

They argued in their motion that there is also no proof that they signed documents related to pork barrel projects.

“They were only dragged into this case by unfounded and sweeping verbal allegations made by the principal conspirators…” the motion read.

Jo Christine and James Christopher are co-accused in the graft charges for their alleged involvement in the pork barrel scam.

Facing plunder and graft cases are Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr.

The Office of the Ombudsman found probable cause to indict Revilla with one count of plunder and 16 counts of graft; Enrile with one count of plunder and 15 counts of graft; and Estrada with one count of plunder and 11 counts of graft. Also charged is alleged mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.

The pork barrel scam is an elaborate scheme of allegedly diverting billions of PDAF to ghost projects for kickbacks.