Napoles seeks dismissal of plunder case
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Mon, 08 Apr 2019 11:31:35 +0000
ACCUSED plunderer Janet Lim-Napoles is asking the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division to dismiss her case, which she is facing with former Sen. Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada and other individuals.
“Accordingly, it is respectfully submitted that the evidence adduced by the prosecution miserably failed to destroy or rebut the Constitutional presumption of innocence of the Accused and also failed to prove the Accused’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt,” Napoles said in a 34-page demurrer to evidence her lawyers had filed.
The defense argued that the charge sheet failed to identify any then-public officer as the main plunderer.
“The identification of the main plunderer is an element of the crime of plunder. The identification of the main plunderer is essential in safeguarding the rights of all of the accused to be properly informed of the charges that he was being made answerable for,” it said.
It also argued that the “prosecution failed to show that the proceeds of the PDAF landed in the pocket of any” then-public officer.
PDAF is the acronym for Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or “pork barrel” appropriation for lawmakers for projects for their constituents.
The court gave Napoles permission to file a demurrer to evidence.
A demurrer to evidence is a motion to dismiss challenging the sufficiency of the evidence presented by the prosecution during trial. If a court denies a demurrer which the defendant filed with its permission, he may present evidence in his defense. REINA C. TOLENTINO
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