MANILA: Some senators pocketed 50 percent of the congressional assistance that went to ghost projects and bogus non-governmental organisations (NGOs) set up by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, key whistleblower Benhur Luy revealed yesterday.
Appearing at the third hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee on the P10bn ($240m) assistance scam, Luy said some legislators will get half of their share before and after the issuance of the special allotment release order (SARO) by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
Luy said Napoles and the legislator will first discuss details of their deal and make a verbal agreement on which implementing agency will receive the assistance.
Employees of the JLN (Janet Lim-Napoles) Corporation will prepare the project proposal that will be forwarded to the DBM by the legislator, who will also endorse the project to the implementing agency.
When the lawmaker asks for his share in the assistance, Napoles will draw from her own pocket.
Napoles will only release the other half of the lawmaker’s share the JLN corporation is already given a copy of the SARO.
Luy said 40 percent of the released assistance went to Napoles and the remaining 10 percent went to officials of the implementing agencies.
Napoles herself or her driver brought bags of cash to the senators, he said. Sometimes, lawmakers themselves or their chiefs of staff also went to Napoles’ office to get the money.
Luy added that some members of the senators’ staff would also accompany them to the bank to withdraw their share from the assistance.
“In the Lower House, it was fund transfers. They gave account numbers and we credited the money to their account,” he said.
Luy said he never personally saw legislators receive the cash or checks, but claimed that he was sometimes asked to prepare the cash -- as much as P20m -- in their office.
Justice Secretary Leila De Lima, who was also present at the hearing, asked that Luy be allowed not to name the lawmakers involved as of the moment.
“Maybe it is after all in the public interest to hear a representative voice from the whistleblowers and hear from him first-hand what has been coursed by media,” De Lima said.
Luy, the second cousin of Napoles who headed one of the bogus NGOs, said the businesswoman had established some 20 bogus organizations and foundations, but only eight were used to access lawmakers’ assistance.
He said Napoles shut down three NGOs after they were discovered to be involved in the fertilizer fund scam of 2003 to 2004.
The Philippine Star
