By Junex Doronio
KNOWN FOR HER “I INVOKE MY RIGHT TO BE SILENT” line during the Senate investigations on the pork barrel scam, the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan on Friday sentenced businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles to at least 64 years in prison after finding her guilty of four counts each of graft and malversation of public funds.
Voting 3-2, the Special Second Division in its 57-page decision sentenced Napoles to at least 40 years in prison for her four malversation of public funds conviction and some 24 years for her conviction on four counts of graft.
At the same time, Napoles and each of the state-run National Agribusiness Corporation (NABCOR) officials Rhodora Mendoza, Victor Cacal, and Maria Ninez Guañizo were sentenced to spend 10 to 16 years in prison and ordered to pay the government P2.9 million or the amount malversed for their conviction.
It was gathered that the case was in connection with the illegal disbursement of at least P20 million from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), commonly called “pork barrel,” of former South Cotabato Representative Arthur Pingoy.
The Sandiganbayan, however, noted that there is no evidence that Pingoy was involved in the scheme.
(ai/mnm)
