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With bail denied to her, Janet Lim-Napoles will need to tough it out.
In a 249-page decision released a little before everybody went on a weekend, the Sandiganbayan Third Division concluded that “plunder was indeed committed” and “Napoles played a stellar but perfidious role in his grand conspiracy.”
It was an unanimous decision signed by Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice and Thurd Division chairperson Amparo Cabotaje-Tang and Associate Justices Samuel Martires and Sarah Jane Fernandez.
“The court stressed, however, that its evaluation of the prosecution’s evidence of the businesswoman’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt, or the guilt of her four coaccussed,” reports Dona Z. Pazzibugan in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Napoles, her two aides Ronald John Lim and John Raumond de Asis (who are both still at large), Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile and Enrile’s former chief of staff Gigi Reyes are “accused of conspiring to amass P172.8 million in kickbacks from 2004-2012,” the report continues.
But clerk of court Dennis Pulma stressed it is not a prejudgment on the merits of the case.
“In a petition for bail, the court is only mandated to determine, whether, based on the pieces of evidence presented by the prosecution, proof of evidence exists or the presumption of guilt is strong,” the decision read.
“In a separate opinion, Martires said he voted to deny Napoles bail because she was a flight risk,” notes the PDI.
The court all thought the testimonies of Benhur Luy, Marina Sula and Merlina Suñas were credible enough.
While the decision on her bail is a pretty moot point — she is already serving a 40-year prison time for illegally detaining Luy — it’s pretty obvious that the decision to deny it to her has boosted the prosecution’s case.
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