Napoles acquitted in 16 cases; convicted in other graft, malversation cases

The Sandiganbayan acquitted businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles and 10 other accused in 16 graft and corruption cases related to the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam, but found her guilty for graft and malversation for other cases, Chino Gaston reported Monday on "24 Oras."

The acquittals stemmed from a case on alleged anomalies in then Senator Bong Revilla's Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel.

In it's 200-page decision, the graft court's First Division said the prosecution failed to prove the Napoles was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in all the 16 cases.

The court also explained that the cases could be considered "predicate crimes" in Revilla's plunder cases, from which Napoles had already been convicted.

A predicate crime is an act that is part of a much larger crime.

The decision also said that these predicate crimes had been used as the basis for the earlier plunder case, and thus could not be used separately to charge Napoles under the Anti-Graft Law

However, despite the acquittal, Napoles had been convicted in earlier cases and would thus remain incarcerated.

The Sandiganbayan cleared Revilla of graft charges in July 2021 due to insufficient evidence.

Napoles, however, was convicted of plunder involving Revilla's discretionary funds.

Meanwhile, the Sandiganbayan's Second Division found Napoles guilty for two counts of graft and two counts of malversation.

These cases stemmed from the P7.6 million pork barrel fund of then Davao del Sur Congressman Douglas Cagas.

The Second Division sentenced Napoles to spend 12 to 17 years in jail for each malversation of public funds conviction. She was also ordered to pay the government P7.6 million for each malversation conviction.

She and her fellow accused who were convicted were also perpetually disqualified from public office.

Further, Napoles was also sentenced to spend 6 to 10 years in prison for each of her graft convictions. She and her co-accused were also to pay back the government P7.6 million - the amount of public funds illegally disbursed.

GMA Integrated News had sought comment from Napoles' lawyers, but they would reserve their response until after they have read the court's decision. — Llanesca Panti/DVM, GMA Integrated News