Sandiganbayan junks graft, malversation cases vs Napoles, two others

The Sandiganbayan has dismissed the graft and malversation cases against Janet Napoles and two former officials of a defunct state enterprise in connection with the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam.

In a decision dated September 18, the Sandiganbayan Second Division said the prosecution failed to provide ''sufficient evidence'' that Napoles, National Livelihood Development Corporation president Gondelina Amata, and NLDC assets management division chief Gregoria Buenaventura were guilty of misusing the P5 million in PDAF allocation of former La Union Representative Victor Francisco Ortega in 2009.

Napoles will remain in prison, as she was convicted in other cases.

The court ruled that there was no documentary evidence that Napoles owned and controlled the Social Development Program for Farmers Foundation Inc. (SDPFFI), a bogus non-government organization that received the PDAF allocation for Ortega's livelihood projects in his district.

Prosecutors also failed to convince the court that Amata and Buenaventura benefited from the PDAF transaction.

''There was also no proof to show that accused Amata and Buenaventura made any representation to effectuate the release of the PDAF in favor of SDPFFI, to the detriment of the government,'' the decision read.

''By and large, the evidence on record fails to make out a clear and convincing case for the accused's conviction.'' —Jiselle Anne Casucian/VBL, GMA Integrated News