The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the indictment of Napoles and two of her coaccused for graft and malversation of public funds in one of the cases filed by the Office of the Ombudsman regarding the P10-billion pork barrel scam. The case was in connection with the alleged misuse of P27.5 million from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), the official name of pork barrel, of then Agusan del Sur Rep. Rodolfo Plaza from 2004 to 2010. Bogus foundationsLuy, who worked as Napoles’ financial officer, divulged the intricate web of irregularities which Napoles purportedly used to siphon off billions of pesos in congressional pork barrel allocations to her network of bogus foundations. “The court upheld the Ombudsman’s determination of probable cause and reiterated its deference to the Ombudsman performance of said duty,” Theodore Te, Supreme Court spokesperson, told a press conference. In throwing out their petition for certiorari, the Supreme Court said Napoles and De Asis erred in claiming that they should not be charged with violation of Republic Act No.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer February 21, 2017 16:52 UTC