By Ruffie Nyhl Cruz
Nearly P500mn belonging to Janet Lim-Napoles and her relatives and “agents has escaped a court order” freezing the assets of the alleged brain of the pork barrel scam.
The money is held in time deposit accounts at a savings and loan co-operative for active and retired officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, according to documents shown by lawyer Levito Baligod to the media on Wednesday.
He said he obtained the documents from his former client and pork barrel scam whistleblower Benhur Luy.
According to Baligod, the 16 time deposit accounts at the Air Material Wing Savings and Loan Association Inc (AMWSLAI) amounting to P443mn are under the names of Vanessa Eman, maid of Napoles’ daughter and John Raymond de Asis, the alleged pork scam mastermind’s driver.
Napoles was able to open accounts at AMWSLAI because her husband, Jaime “Jimmy” Napoles, is a retired marine major.
Each of the AMWSLAI accounts earns 13% interest yearly, according to Baligod.
The AMWSLAI accounts of Eman amount to P25mn and those of de Asis, P100mn.
Eman is now in Hong Kong as a domestic helper.
De Asis is also the president of the Kaupdanan para sa Mangunguma Foundation used by Napoles in transactions with those who earned millions from kickbacks and commissions from the lawmakers’ Priority Development Assistance Fund or pork barrel.
The time deposit accounts, with transaction records from October 2009 to 2011, were not included in the accounts frozen by the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 22, for assets earlier traced by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).
The court order only covered Napoles and her family’s peso bank accounts of P119.917mn and dollar accounts amounting to $696,635.02 (around P29mn).
The AMWSLAI accounts are also not part of the multimillion-peso insurance policies of Napoles and her children.
Last March, the AMLC said Napoles had also put pork barrel funds in four insurance policies worth $25,600 under her name, two more worth P5.15mn and $114,218.57 under the name of her daughter, Jo Christine.
Moreover, another two policies were put in the name of her son James Christopher worth P6.7mn, and each for daughter, Jeane Catherine worth P5.1mn and son, John Christian worth P5mn.