Benhur Luy, the principal witness in the pork barrel scam.
The lawyer of Janet Lim-Napoles yesterday cast serious doubts on the credibility of whistleblower Benhur Luy as a prosecution witness in the graft case against Napoles.
Interviewed on radio dzMM’s Dos Por Dos, Stephen David said the prosecution was relying too much on the testimony of Luy during Napoles’ bail hearing at the Sandiganbayan.
“I wanted the prosecution to present their strongest evidence. It so happened that its strongest evidence is Benhur,” David told programme host Gerry Baja.
He said Luy fared poorly during the cross-examination. “His memory seemed to have failed him. When I showed him the foot-high stack of evidence, he couldn’t remember who gave him specific documents. He couldn’t say who made deposits or who handed him money,” the lawyer said.
He added that he was sure Luy meticulously kept records of the transactions. “You definitely will record the amounts you claim you gave to congressmen on Napoles’ instructions,” David said.
Napoles is being accused of masterminding the multi-billion-peso scam involving the funnelling of pork barrel allocations to dubious or non-existent organisations she owns or controls.