The embattled businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles who is accused as the mastermind of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or “Pork Barrel” scam has sought for the approval from the Sandiganbayan to file a demurrer to evidence in the plunder case filed against her and co-accused Ramon “Bong” Revilla.
Napoles’s camp defends that “the information failed to specify who is the main plunderer in this case. Hence, on this point, the Plunder charge against Accused Napoles should be dismissed.”
In a 23-page motion filed on November 24, Napoles’s camp said that the evidence presented by the prosecution is absolutely lacking.
“In summation, the evidence presented by the prosecution is absolutely lacking, i.e[.], as to the approximate time of the commission of the offense, the particular place where the offense was committed, and more importantly, the specific acts or omissions constituting the offense,” the motion read.
“Accordingly, Accused, through counsel, begs kind leave of the Honorable Court to file demurrer to evidence on the ground that the evidence adduced by the prosecution miserably failed to destroy/rebut the constitutional presumption of innocence of accused which warrants their conviction, nor has the prosecution proved the accused’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt to produce a conviction,” Napoles’s camp said.
The case stemmed from the P224-million plunder and graft charges filed by the Office of the Ombudsman to the Sandiganbayan against Revilla and his former aide Richard Cambe, Napoles, Ronald John Lim, and John Raymund de Asis.
The ombudsman also charged Juan Ponce Enrile, Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, and other individuals in 2014 in connection with the PDAF scam.